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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 21:45 MockHamill wrote:
I think the following needs to be done.
1. Soft region lock, 2/3 of the spots in premiere league and challengers league reserved for people that live in that region.
2. Remove season finals but transfer all of the money to the regions instead.
3. Increase the total price pool but make it less top heavy (i.e. more money in round of 32 and 16).
4. Increase the WCS points you get from non-WCS tournaments (Dreamhack etc).
5. Make sure that you have longer periods between the seasons so that we can look forward to non-WCS events. As it is, WCS made me less motivated to watch normal tournaments since I was fed Starcraft from WCS all the time.
6. Maybe seed tournaments not only by skill but also on player popularity. Reserve a few spots for wild card players that are popular and make people tune in. I know this one is controversial but I am more interested to watch White-Ra, Naniwa, MC, MVP etc than some generic but more skilled korean.
7. Stop forcing tournament organisers to pay a percentage of the price pool (above a certain threshold) to Blizzard. That is just wrong and damages Starcraft.
8. Make mech viable in all matchups. This increases the variety of strategies and counter strategies which we will see, which will make the game more interesting to watch.
9. Make counter units soft counters instead of hard counters. Tempest prevents BC from even being built, no unit should work like that. Imagine if all/most units were viable at pro level, the game would be more varied and fun to watch.
I think point 4 is problematic because it will mean a greater Korean dominance. In the present system it is really up to a good run if you make it far. So a new challenger can appear and sweep aside other players. If DH and others give more points this will reinforce the dominance of other players.
Point 6 is probably not a good idea really. Unfortunately there is a reason that WhiteRa isn't in the WCS. Sure, I love the guy, but I get other chances to see various showmatches with him in. I don't think we ever need to give handouts due to popularity.
Otherwise I think it's pretty good, but I think you're also confusing balance changes with the WCS format. There are other threads for balance/game philosophy discussions.
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On October 15 2013 21:44 Firestorm wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 21:31 Littlesheep wrote:
Please Region Lock WCS so it will actually be interesting. Proving who the best Korean, who doesn't think they can compete in WCS Korea, in WCS EU and AM is not an interesting storyline. Sorry. So instead of Taeja vs Jaedong, you want to see Drunkenboi vs Guitarcheese?
I'd like to see Taeja and Jaedong in WCS Korea, which is a lot weaker without these players.
Drunkenboi and Guitarcheese are NA #1 and #2? News to me..
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I personally think they are looking in the right direction. I do think though that if someone is playing in a region they HAVE to be located in that area.... even if korean players want to go to AM or EU they have to move there before the season starts....or vice versa that type of region lock would be worth looking into... If they wanted tohave some slots for movement they could always do like a player trading system........
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United States23455 Posts
On October 15 2013 21:53 Littlesheep wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 21:44 Firestorm wrote:On October 15 2013 21:31 Littlesheep wrote:
Please Region Lock WCS so it will actually be interesting. Proving who the best Korean, who doesn't think they can compete in WCS Korea, in WCS EU and AM is not an interesting storyline. Sorry. So instead of Taeja vs Jaedong, you want to see Drunkenboi vs Guitarcheese? I'd like to see Taeja and Jaedong in WCS Korea, which is a lot weaker without these players. Drunkenboi and Guitarcheese are NA #1 and #2? News to me..
You would see NA #1-32 in Premier.
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On October 15 2013 08:41 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:
Some general ideas we have been considering include carving out a portion of player slots dedicated to legal residents that would guarantee players living in a particular region would always have a consistent chance to make it into Challenger League. Also, we are pushing for more of our broadcast content to happen in a physical studio environment, inevitably pushing players to commit to longer periods of time where they must reside locally.
I posted this on a reddit thread about 2 weeks ago. If they actually pull this off, it'll probably help so much..
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changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16
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On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16
You couldn't enjoy TaeJa vs JD yesterday because it was WCS NA instead of WCS KR?
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On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16
I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean.
Getting tired of this crap.
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To steal a phrase: "Blizzard, GSLs redde!" :-\
Removing the season finals is probably a good idea. As is cutting the number of WCSs. I don't know about everyone else but this year its felt like I've been unable to move for WCS and frankly I'd partly given up on trying to follow it all.
And to make it worse it came at the expense of "THE" premier tournament in GSL Code S which was reduced to hardly anything this year and was mixed in a mish-mash with the OSL for WCS Korea. I just want Code S properly back; WCS doesn't feel as elite as Code S was. Especially given that a lot of players just dispersed to other regions.
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On October 15 2013 22:17 FetusThrower wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean. Getting tired of this crap.
Backing you up
Proleague didn't have europeans or north american. All koreas (with few exceptions). It was the best starcraft we ever watched. I don't know why people complain. idra was good so we saw him in korean teams. Grrr kicked koreans ass. But... if i had to choose between, a boxer played match and a foreigner match... Why on earth would you chose the foreigner ?
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I am excited to see what they pull off for next seasons and that they are working with people like Naz'Gul and taking feed back. A more open season with room for Dream hacks, shout crafts and other event is best for everyone. Some soft region lock will be provide a bit more room for local players. Or they could so local and non local qualifiers and adjust the number of slots as needed.
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On October 15 2013 22:17 FetusThrower wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean. Getting tired of this crap.
Yes, actually. I enjoy watching Koreans because I like watching good Starcraft. However, I get way more excited by a match when there's a Grubby or a Naniwa or a Stephano facing off against a Korean or vying for a finals spot. I can identify with those kinds of players a lot easier than I can with most of the Korean players. It's a really nice bonus, and tournament stream numbers consistently reflect this. MLG/IEM/Dreamhack numbers have always reported sharp drops after a non-Korean favorite is knocked out.
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On October 15 2013 22:20 FFW_Rude wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:17 FetusThrower wrote:On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean. Getting tired of this crap. Backing you up Proleague didn't have europeans or north american. All koreas (with few exceptions). It was the best starcraft we ever watched. I don't know why people complain. idra was good so we saw him in korean teams. Grrr kicked koreans ass. But... if i had to choose between, a boxer played match and a foreigner match... Why on earth would you chose the foreigner ?
If the foreigners are as or more skilled, there should be no difference. I don't care if the players are korean or not, as long as they are sympathetic and good players, and it's silly of people to do...
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I want to see high level matches, that's why I want a GSL or OSL that isn't missing half the best players since they are off in another tournament. If you want to watch the best players you should be in favor of region locking, not against.
Season finals would make sense if the skill discrepancy wasn't so huge.
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On October 15 2013 22:29 Zackeva wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:20 FFW_Rude wrote:On October 15 2013 22:17 FetusThrower wrote:On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean. Getting tired of this crap. Backing you up Proleague didn't have europeans or north american. All koreas (with few exceptions). It was the best starcraft we ever watched. I don't know why people complain. idra was good so we saw him in korean teams. Grrr kicked koreans ass. But... if i had to choose between, a boxer played match and a foreigner match... Why on earth would you chose the foreigner ? If the foreigners are as or more skilled, there should be no difference. I don't care if the players are korean or not, as long as they are sympathetic and good players, and it's silly of people to do...
Exactly. You don't watch a bad player because he is a foreigner. You watch good player no matter their nationality. Am i good ?
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I..I just started skimming about half-way through because I realized they don't actually know what they're talking about.
Why can't WCS America/Europe operate like GSL did before they were pre-empted by Blizzard? Everything's in studio, so you have to actually live in the region you're plundering of money. It's not like they even have to go somewhere to figure this out - GSL ran for three years doing the exact same thing and kicking ass every season. JUST DO WHAT THEY DID.
This is basically a Blizzard press release in which they take everything the community wanted and said "Yeah, we're thinking about it."
They conveniently forget to mention the NA scene all but dying. That's nice. If they were really answering our questions/concerns, they would mention that more than just "fostering growth of the local scene" being "baggage" that comes with letting Jaedong tromp through WCS NA with his fellow Koreans.
I like how they take the marginalization of an entire scene to little more than what, 4 pros, and call it "baggage." No, it's the death of an entire source of pro-players, and with it a reason for (spit balling here, obviously) at least a 1/3 of your viewer base for watch.
Blizzard just....argh.
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On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16
Then watch the Zotac Cups, to see local talent play, i do. But I think you are in for a fright when the novelty wears off and the viewership plummets because of the lock.
People who are hardcore will want to see Code S standard play, and how are the players going to improve without a challenge. hell Idra could come out of retirement today and cake walk it to a WCS NA final if there are no Koreans in it
Me personally i will exclusively be watching WCS KR only, unless Polt manages to stay in NA.
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On October 15 2013 22:17 FetusThrower wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 I really don't understand why people say that. It is so boring watching good people face eachother? Does race or the place you come from really affect the games? Sometimes it introduces new styles, sometimes it causes those who you want to win to struggle. OK, I get that people want their favorites to get far. If they're not as good, I don't see how you can blame someone who kicks their ass just because they are korean. Getting tired of this crap.
Well, you just said the answer to the very thing you claim not to understand. People have favorites they want to watch. If they get knocked out way too early, the interest to continue to watch is not there. No one is blaming the better opponent for this, but rather the way the system is built, allowing Koreans to totally dominate every WCS region, effectively crowding out the local talent from the qualifier through the challenger league up to premier league. I don't think I can explain this more clearly, but if you still don't understand, then by all means, ask again.
The WCS KR will always be there for those that want to watch arguably the best of the best, so it is not like people are getting robbed of this if a region lock is introduced. For me, WCS EU 2013 has had a number of highly entertaining games and I have watched as much as I could. While some argue that the Koreans have added "spice" to it, I'd say there is hardly any need for this in WCS EU, and throughout qualifiers, challenger league and premier league no-one can say that the only games worth watching were those with Koreans in them, that is simply not the case.
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On October 15 2013 22:38 Topdoller wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 22:13 purgerinho wrote:
changes are very good, without season finals there will be more prize money in finals, for sure and i hope there will be more tournaments that will fill the gap..
and i hope there will be some kind of region lock because it is so boring to watch wcs eu/na with 14/16 koreans in ro16 Then watch the Zotac Cups, to see local talent play, i do. But I think you are in for a fright when the novelty wears off and the viewership plummets because of the lock. People who are hardcore will want to see Code S standard play, and how are the players going to improve without a challenge. hell Idra could come out of retirement today and cake walk it to a WCS NA final if there are no Koreans in it Me personally i will exclusively be watching WCS KR only, unless Polt manages to stay in NA.
I would be willing to be money that most people are not hardcore "I only want to see top level Korean play" tournament watchers.
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@Grumbels Thank you ! <3 I have thought this for a long time now. If we want the game skill to grow it would work like a pyramid. If all the best players were in korea They would be forced to play eachother making their skills even better and trying to find new ways to get an edge against each other instead of the best players being scattered just ROFL stomping EU or NA then finally playing eachother in RO8. Since the koreans would be playing better against eachother and new strategies would develop the bar would increasingly get higher and EU and NA while playing eachother will have more practice in these higher tournaments also doing the same thing
My point is not made well here but if you think deeply about this it makes sense that region locking would make more intense games all around instead of 2 foreigners barely able to compete past RO8 in Regional WCS
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EPT
