On March 08 2014 12:33 Canucklehead wrote: Rotterdam must have known about this before the announcement because nathanias tweeted that the cat's out of the bag and that he would be casting with Rotterdam next week. If nathanias knew, then don't you think Rotterdam would know too?
Not really, an hour before that he said
So it seems more rushed.
Sure if you read the tweet by itself. However, after his second tweet, you can infer that the first tweet was just trolling until he had the green light to reveal the news. Do you think that he was contacted after the announcement to cast with rotterdam? If he was, he wouldn't have said the cat's out of the bag, which implies he was holding onto a secret and now can reveal it.
This was sudden for the public to know, but behind the scenes people at ESL knew because they had to plan and get ready for this. There's no way nathanias got the casting gig 1 hour after the announcement as ESL had to plan this ahead of time. Unless you're going to tell me ESL had this all planned out, but only contacted nathanias and rotterdam to cast next week after the announcement today. I find that hard to believe. I'm not saying they knew weeks in advance. I'm just saying they knew before the public announcement.
What a disastrous loss for the community . I loved the NASL. It was quirky, but it had a lot of heart and you could feel the passion of everyone involved. This doesn't fit a healthy pattern for esports after IGN and MLG.
Does anyone else find humour in how meaningless the NASL announcement was in regards to clarifying anything? It went on about how NASL was growing and expanding... growing and expanding in SC2 every single year.... then ended with a lame and meaningless sc2 reference as to why they are leaving WCS. What was the real reason? If they aren't going to reveal the real reason, they shouldn't have bothered making such a pointless announcement at all.
On March 08 2014 12:46 bourne117 wrote: With the uncertainty about Season 2 and 3 I wonder if some of the top dogs in AM like JD Taeja Hero Bomber jump ship and go back to EU or KR (if that is even possible don't really remember)
The only uncertainty is who will run it. There is no doubt that the seasons will happen. No reason to leave even if possible
At this rate, dissolving WCS: AM and integrating it with WCS: EU (to creation say, WCS: International) seems like the most logical move.
this is a good idea. if not Blizzard needs to write a giant mofo of a cheque and hand it to Sundance/MLG and make this problem go away.
the last thing Blizzard needs to do is get directly involved in running any competitive esports league. they need to focus on making games.
On March 08 2014 12:46 bourne117 wrote: With the uncertainty about Season 2 and 3 I wonder if some of the top dogs in AM like JD Taeja Hero Bomber jump ship and go back to EU or KR (if that is even possible don't really remember)
The only uncertainty is who will run it. There is no doubt that the seasons will happen. No reason to leave even if possible
At this rate, dissolving WCS: AM and integrating it with WCS: EU (to create say, WCS: International) seems like the most logical move.
Um no. That goes against Blizzard wanting to bring about aspiring gamers into SC2 and make a name for themselves, especially in America server which is second weakest. At least that's what I think?
I personally think the best way to do this is for Blizzard themselves to do WCS AM. Don't they still have the IPL team?
On March 08 2014 13:10 Zanzabarr wrote: Does anyone else find humour in how meaningless the NASL announcement was in regards to clarifying anything? It went on about how NASL was growing and expanding... growing and expanding in SC2 every single year.... then ended with a lame and meaningless sc2 reference as to why they are leaving WCS. What was the real reason? If they aren't going to reveal the real reason, they shouldn't have bothered making such a pointless announcement at all.
On March 08 2014 12:46 bourne117 wrote: With the uncertainty about Season 2 and 3 I wonder if some of the top dogs in AM like JD Taeja Hero Bomber jump ship and go back to EU or KR (if that is even possible don't really remember)
The only uncertainty is who will run it. There is no doubt that the seasons will happen. No reason to leave even if possible
If they or their team, or their sponsors, thinks that the production and marketing will be botched to the point where they're not being adequately represented for their time and money, they will have a reason to leave. Especially for the NA powerhouses who could easily make it into EU premier.
Exactly. Guys like Taeja Polt Hero JD Bomber are probably all the favorites in WCS EU the moment they join. Plus lets not forget that WCS AM with MLG wasn't exactly the best run season we have had. Compare that with WCS EU which seems to very rarely have issues and I don't think its absurd to think some guys might consider leaving. (especially if you think about guys that are already knocked out like Hero and JD, they could just start getting ready to do the WCS EU open qualifier now)
WTH @those tweets. I checked Rotti's twitter and he said he had no idea this was going down. How can you go about a reshuffling w/o involving your main caster?
On March 08 2014 12:46 bourne117 wrote: With the uncertainty about Season 2 and 3 I wonder if some of the top dogs in AM like JD Taeja Hero Bomber jump ship and go back to EU or KR (if that is even possible don't really remember)
The only uncertainty is who will run it. There is no doubt that the seasons will happen. No reason to leave even if possible
At this rate, dissolving WCS: AM and integrating it with WCS: EU (to create say, WCS: International) seems like the most logical move.
Um no. That goes against Blizzard wanting to bring about aspiring gamers into SC2 and make a name for themselves, especially in America server which is second weakest. At least that's what I think?
I personally think the best way to do this is for Blizzard themselves to do WCS AM. Don't they still have the IPL team?
Blizzard as an organiser will probably suffer a number of problems that NASL and MLG experienced while running the event. Simply put, they're not in a position where they're capable of turning out a professional level product before Season 2. A lot of that comes with experience and really only ESL and Redbull have that at the moment. Since both orgs. running WCS AM have given it up, and with viewership less than other regions it's within reason to assume that its just a money sink right now. Consolidation including regional quotas as under the current system would still protect rising talent and unite viewership under a single event.
On March 08 2014 13:30 ssxsilver wrote: WTH @those tweets. I checked Rotti's twitter and he said he had no idea this was going down. How can you go about a reshuffling w/o involving your main caster?
He's assuming that ESL set up the Nathanias gig to cast with Rotterdam.
It's entirely possible Nathanias and Rotti were set to cast WCS NA together under NASL, before NASL dropped out. (That being the "bagged cat".) ESL picked up the slack and took both on board to cast quickly.
That's one possibility anyway. At this point, it's entirely conjecture that flies in the face of every public statement made - Bitter says he didn't know. Rotti says he didn't know. Why wouldn't they both see this coming if ESL and Nathanias (who were not inside the company) knew? Why wouldn't Blizzard know and have everything lined up for a more smooth succession?
On March 08 2014 13:30 ssxsilver wrote: WTH @those tweets. I checked Rotti's twitter and he said he had no idea this was going down. How can you go about a reshuffling w/o involving your main caster?
He's assuming that ESL set up the Nathanias gig to cast with Rotterdam.
It's entirely possible Nathanias and Rotti were set to cast WCS NA together under NASL, before NASL dropped out. (That being the "bagged cat".) ESL picked up the slack and took both on board to cast quickly.
That's one possibility anyway. At this point, it's entirely conjecture that flies in the face of every public statement made - Bitter says he didn't know. Rotti says he didn't know. Why wouldn't they both see this coming if ESL and Nathanias (who were not inside the company) knew? Why wouldn't Blizzard know and have everything lined up for a more smooth succession?
On March 08 2014 12:46 bourne117 wrote: With the uncertainty about Season 2 and 3 I wonder if some of the top dogs in AM like JD Taeja Hero Bomber jump ship and go back to EU or KR (if that is even possible don't really remember)
The only uncertainty is who will run it. There is no doubt that the seasons will happen. No reason to leave even if possible
At this rate, dissolving WCS: AM and integrating it with WCS: EU (to create say, WCS: International) seems like the most logical move.
Um no. That goes against Blizzard wanting to bring about aspiring gamers into SC2 and make a name for themselves, especially in America server which is second weakest. At least that's what I think?
I personally think the best way to do this is for Blizzard themselves to do WCS AM. Don't they still have the IPL team?
On March 08 2014 13:30 ssxsilver wrote: WTH @those tweets. I checked Rotti's twitter and he said he had no idea this was going down. How can you go about a reshuffling w/o involving your main caster?
He's assuming that ESL set up the Nathanias gig to cast with Rotterdam.
It's entirely possible Nathanias and Rotti were set to cast WCS NA together under NASL, before NASL dropped out. (That being the "bagged cat".) ESL picked up the slack and took both on board to cast quickly.
That's one possibility anyway. At this point, it's entirely conjecture that flies in the face of every public statement made - Bitter says he didn't know. Rotti says he didn't know. Why wouldn't they both see this coming if ESL and Nathanias (who were not inside the company) knew? Why wouldn't Blizzard know and have everything lined up for a more smooth succession?
I dunno. Slasher's on it, though.
I think you're looking into it wayyyy too much.
Nah. I'm willing to trust you, Bitter, and Rotti rather than look for strange conspiracies of silence, like some people in this thread have been. It's also possible ESL just went "hey, Rotti needs a caster" and asked you to do it quickly.
Who knows. Good to know there will be a good casting team no matter how it all happened.
Honestly I have faith these will get worked out in the end. Hopefully Redbull comes and picks up the slack, or this opens the door for another aspiring company to expand their presence and make a name for themselves. ESL could always expand with an NA division or something and basically dominate the WCS broadcasting in both regions.
Anyways, sad to see NASL go but according to players and such they were dropping the ball in some areas, and leaving mid-season with little to no explanation about why is pretty lame. And that ultra lame announcement that explained absolutely nothing and cleared up 0 confusion is a joke. It's just amazing how they rely on this community to survive for so long and then when it's time to dip out we don't get jack shit. I hope they realize this and treat whatever else they decide to do next with more respect.
Seems like the only thing we can infer is that NASL could not sustain the costs of running WCS:America and had to dissolve rather quickly. Why they did this mid-season and not at the beginning is odd, perhaps they thought subscriptions would increase to offset costs?
I guess Blizzard doesn't offer that much support in terms of money. They want organizations to follow their rules but I guess they don't offer much more than prize money and branding. We know from TB in this thread that NASL offered to pay for flights and not Blizzard, so that confirms Blizzard doesn't offer as much you would suspect.
Also WTF is up with Blizzard's contracts? NASL either had to pay penalties for cancelling mid-season or there were no repercussions for dropping support for SC2. Which would further the idea that Blizzard offers little monetary support.
You would think a billion-dollar company would plan for these contingencies.
edit: I also doubt Red Bull would pick up WCS unless Blizzard offers significantly more creative and advertising licenses toward Red Bull.
If you watched any Red Bull event they weren't billed as SC2 tournaments, they were Red Bull Lans with their image plastered everywhere. Even the winners were titled as Red Bull winners not SC2 champions. So unless WCS becomes the Red Bull Series I highly doubt it will happen.
The only organization right now that has the resources and the staff to do WCS in North America is MLG and unless MLG gets more money from Blizzard that is unlikely as well.
EPT
. I loved the NASL. It was quirky, but it had a lot of heart and you could feel the passion of everyone involved. This doesn't fit a healthy pattern for esports after IGN and MLG. 
