This May, Breaking Out Season 2 launched and spent eight weeks highlighting a different up & coming player in the North American scene each week. After spending some time learning about these players, we watched them duke it out in the Breakout Invitational, wielding a prize pool of over $2,150.
There's a common misconception that players in North America don't work hard, aren't motivated, and don't have much talent. Breaking Out looks to prove otherwise by highlighting some up & coming players that might not be on your radar yet. North America as a scene may be behind others like Europe and Korea, but we have the players with the talent to be better. We just need to give them the resources and the motivation to do so. The show seeks to show some of those players worth caring about and give them a bit more exposure. And of course, the invitational that has hit over two-thousand dollars doesn't hurt to motivate the players a little...
Breaking Out is about fostering growth in the local scene. I'm not going to lie to you. These guys are not WCS Grand Finalists or GSL Code S winners. But what they are is a group of hard working individuals who have the potential to be a "foreign hope" or top NA player given the right environment. If you haven't watched some of these guys play, this is your opportunity to see just how awesome some of their games can be. You might surprise yourself at how much fun you'll have cheering for these guys if you give them a chance.
Format
We're really excited to announce Season 3 of Breaking Out. Season 1 of the show broadcasted a whopping 6 days a week for 2 months, whereas Season 2 reduced it to 3 days a week for 2 months based on feedback from viewers. Season 3 is going to be taking it one step further after some more feedback.
Breaking Out Season 3 will run twice a week for one month. The broadcast time is planned to be Friday's and Saturdays at 6:00pm PST/9:00pm EST. Each day will highlight a single player, with two players covered each week. The show will run through the month of September, with qualifiers for the show taking up the majority of August. The exact date for the Invitational itself will be announced at a later date after consulting with the players for availability.
This new change will also come with a new format to support covering an entire player in a single day! Episodes will be longer on average but will feature a much higher production value. The format will be as follows:
1) Brief 3-4 minute interview to give you a feel for the player
2) Cover the player's XvZ matchup
3) Cover the player's XvT matchup
4) Cover the player's XvP matchup
5) Cover an AWESOME game from the player
6) A short 5ish minute fun segment featuring things like Karaoke, etc.
Interviews are fantastic but sometimes it can be hard to pay full attention to one person talk about themselves for an hour straight. Instead, small 3-5 minute clips will be interspersed throughout the show so you can get a better feel for the player in a shorter amount of time! I'm really excited to hear what you think of the new format so be sure to give your thoughts about it!
Are you a player interested in being on Breaking Out? Well before we get into how you can qualify, first you need to register! Registration is an required part of being considered for the show no matter what qualification method you use. So, let's go over how to register.
Submit an e-mail to feardragon64@gmail.com with the following information by August 10th
1) Proof of North American Residency. Some examples of this are Drivers Licenses, Student ID's to NA universities, Passports, etc.
3) A link to your battle.net profile on the account you want considered for the ladder qualifiers. (Note this account will be publicized)
4) A 3-8 minute video of yourself answering the following questions(be ready for parts of this video to be used on the show!):
a) What is your name, age & Starcraft 2 race?
b) What do you do for a living?
c) Tell us the most interesting fact about yourself that you can think of.
d) Describe your playstyle for us.
e) Why do you deserve the chance to be the next breakout player?
f) What does Starcraft mean to you?
Once you submit your application and it has been processed, we will respond to confirm or deny it. We are reserving the right to reject applications. However, the main reason we're doing so is to prevent players that already have a good bit of notoriety. Some good examples would be if for some reason Evil Geniuses' Huk or Acer's Scarlett applied, their applications would be rejected because I don't think anyone could argue they haven't already "broken out." If you have any question of whether you would be accepted or rejected, feel free to shoot an e-mail and ask. All applications will be considered by a small committee due to the arbitrary nature of issue.
Similar to previous seasons, there will be a total of eight players on the show. In the interest of making qualifications as open as possible to everyone walking the different paths of life, we've opened up three different methods of qualification.
Qualification Methods
The two registered players that hold the highest ranking on the North American ladder will be given a spot on the show. This does not mean you have to hold spot 1, 2 in GM. You just have to be the highest ranked of all those who are trying to qualify. The end time for the ladder qualification will be 11:59pm EST on August 24th.
Four will qualify through two separate tournament qualifiers will be held for those unable to qualify through the first method. The first and second place finishers of both qualifiers will earn a spot on the show, meaning the top 2 will qualify. The first qualifier will be held on August 1st at 6:00pm EST. They will be hosted by the SC2 Up & Coming Podcast hosts, NanMan and MasterDalk. The second qualifier's date will be on August 10th at 4:00pm EST. This qualifier will actually be the ZOWIE NA Rumble and will take the two highest placing players that are registered for Breaking Out. In the case of a tie, those players will play it to determine who will qualify. For updates on the qualifiers, be sure to register. Bracket for the first qualifier: http://www.excello.net/tournament/5366/breaking-out-s3-q1/ Bracket for the second qualifier: http://www.excello.net/tournament/5318/zowie-na-rumble-3/
If you've been unable to qualify through the ladder or through the tournament qualifiers, one last qualification method is possible. The final two player spots will be awarded via invite. These players will be picked by a small committee and be decided by various factors including the answers given in their application video, performance in various tournaments, etc.
Currently Qualified Players 1) Zan(T) through Qualifier #1 2) JonSnow(Z) through Qualifier #1 3) PandaBearMe(Z) through Qualifier #2 4) Kif1re(P) through Qualifier #2 5) Bails(P) through Ladder Spot #1 6) Intense(T) through Ladder Spot #2 7) Midday(Z) through Invite #1 8) Kelazhur(T) through Invite #2
Be sure to remember in order to qualify, you MUST register. Don't forget to before the deadline(BY August 10th, NOT AFTER). We will be much more strict about this than last season.
The show eventually leads up into an eight man tournament that has a $1000 base prize pool that has payout even to last place. However, we do take donations for that prize pool to increase. The last two season through donations we were able to raise the prize pool about an additional $1150 through donations. If you'd like to contribute to the prizepool for the next Breakout Invitational, feel free to use the link below to do so!
$1,548.86Updated 9/9/2014 10:00pm PST
Donators to this season's prize pool FilthyRake - sWs - Crot4le - Casey Nicholas - Patrick Quist
Big thank you's go out to everyone that has made this possible. From those who helped with the art assets for this season and the last (Noobity, Sybert, MinnyMausGG) to those who have provided feedback and adminstration help(NanMan, MasterDalk, KurenTV), to the all the viewers of the previous seasons, I extend my thanks for helping to make this all possible. I also want to send a big thank you to all the players working hard in North America! Keep on fighting the good fight!
Q/A
I was in a previous season of Breaking Out. Can I apply again? Breaking Out has a 1 season layout period. If you were a part of Breaking Out Season 1, feel free to apply! If you were in Season 2, you'll have to wait until Season 4!
Is this an actual tournament? All I saw was info on player interviews and such. Good question! This is both a show and a tournament. The idea is that I spend a month doing a show talking about the players and letting people(including myself to be honest) get to know them, and THEN we have an 8 man tournament called The Breakout Invitational. The invitational has a base prize pool of $1000 and takes donations to be increased. The past two seasons it's over doubled the base prize pool to roughly $2150.
Can a player from Latin America participate? If someone in Latin America is interested, they should feel free to apply as long as they feel comfortable communicating in English in extensive interviews. Unfortunately, the format relies very heavily on speaking good English at the moment.
Your question here! Ask in the thread! Some incredible answer that blows your mind.
I almost registered but the whole "photocopy of ID, face, and all your personal info" changed my mind. I'll still watch this, but I'm not a person to give that kind of stuff away to anyone.
On July 22 2014 15:16 Socup wrote: I almost registered but the whole "photocopy of ID, face, and all your personal info" changed my mind. I'll still watch this, but I'm not a person to give that kind of stuff away to anyone.
Unfortunate to hear that. I'll note that you can use things that don't have sensitive personal information like a student id, but I understand and respect your privacy on the matter. I hope you understand it's for the purpose of verifying what region a player belongs to.
Awesome stuff man! You've done some great things for NA and I hope this season is even more successful than the last two! Thanks for all that you do ^_^
On July 22 2014 15:16 Socup wrote: I almost registered but the whole "photocopy of ID, face, and all your personal info" changed my mind. I'll still watch this, but I'm not a person to give that kind of stuff away to anyone.
He's only asking for an ID, not your SSN or other private info. If you're interested in "breaking out" and being known, that info is going to eventually get out there anyway.
On July 22 2014 15:16 Socup wrote: I almost registered but the whole "photocopy of ID, face, and all your personal info" changed my mind. I'll still watch this, but I'm not a person to give that kind of stuff away to anyone.
I hate to tell you this but the DMV is peeking at your infos right now planning the heist of a lifetime, people know, man.
Seriously though If this seems like a bizarre stipulation to you I assure you I've been safely verifying myself in this way for about 15 years for pro gaming/work/recovering videogame accounts/recovering emails, its very standard procedure but your mind is your own to make.
On July 23 2014 07:31 DaRSaiNT wrote: If LA player could be in i would donate but then i read all the post.
Although, good job there
Sorry! I really was considering letting Latin America players in but there is always the issue of the language barrier. Unfortunately, the format relies very heavily on speaking good English at the moment. I will say if someone in Latin America is interested, they should feel free to apply as long as they feel comfortable communicating in english in extensive interviews.
On July 23 2014 08:40 wptlzkwjd wrote: lol a job application requires less information than this tournament xD
You've never had to fill out an I-9 form. Those things are a huge pain!
In all seriousness though, It's really just 4 things. Your battle.net profile should be pretty easy, as should some simple form of identification. The photo has some requirements but it's used for the tournament at the end. The video has a lot of questions but it should really only take 5-10 minutes of your time.
All in all, the application process doesn't actually take more than 15-30 minutes depending on whether you have a photo meeting the requirements already or not.
Breaking Out is happy to announce the first player invite, Complexity Gaming's Midday! Midday is a very solid Zerg player from Canada.
Some of you more familiar with the format for Breaking Out may be wondering why an invite is being given before the qualification process as opposed to after. In the interest of transparency, I'd like to elaborate on the decision further in the spoiler section below. If you don't care, then don't worry about it. Midday earned his spot on the show for the invite, and would not be invited if I did not feel he was a solid player.
Season 1 of Breaking Out had a substantially different format than Season 2 or 3. There were no qualifiers or particular ways to get on the show. Instead, I just hand picked players I thought were worth knowing about. Eventually, I decided to break up the show into seasons so that I could hold a tournament, The Breakout Invitational, for the players. It was during this time that I had asked only Terran from Season 1, Sonic, to be on the show. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Sonic told me that he was unable to play due to personal reasons.
At this point I started looking for another player I thought would be suitable. I reached out to Midday, a very solid, up & coming zerg player on Complexity Academy, if he'd be interested. He said he was so I slotted to be on the final week of the show. This left Season 1 with no Terran players but I thought Midday was deserving of a spot. What I did not expect was for Sonic to respond to me and tell me he would be able to come on the show and play in the tournament. I reached out to midday and asked if he'd be ok with being pushed back to "Season 2"
[10/13/2013 4:24:51 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: hey! [10/13/2013 4:24:55 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: how's it going man? [10/13/2013 4:25:11 PM] Samuel Midday He: It's going [10/13/2013 4:25:13 PM] Samuel Midday He: Hbu? [10/13/2013 4:25:15 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: haha [10/13/2013 4:25:17 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: busy as ever [10/13/2013 4:25:21 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: so I had a quick question [10/13/2013 4:25:30 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: would you still be willing to go for the 2nd cycle of the breaking out show? [10/13/2013 4:25:49 PM] Samuel Midday He: Rather than the first? Yes id be ok with that [10/13/2013 4:26:06 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: I've been going through players somewhat naively and just picking players that were really good but not getting attention they deserved [10/13/2013 4:26:06 PM] Samuel Midday He: Why the change of plans? And when would the second cycle be? [10/13/2013 4:26:09 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: and I somehow ended up [10/13/2013 4:26:15 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: with all toss and zerg [10/13/2013 4:26:18 PM] Ravi "feardragon" Pareek: I need a terran xD [10/13/2013 4:26:25 PM] Samuel Midday He: Np
Because he said he was alright with being pushed back(and had actually said in our initial discussion that he preferred being on the show at a later date), I thought this was ideal. Breaking Out Season 1 would have a Terran and I planned to have Midday on Season 2. This would have worked out fine if I had not changed the format so drastically receiving feedback from players who wanted a chance to qualify for the spots. This meant that my promise to have Midday on for the following season would no longer be possible if I wanted to keep the "unbiased" format that I had just switched to. Even the invites for Breaking Out try to separate biases by having a committee of people vote on the selection. In this committee, I hold the same amount of power as other members so as not to create an unconscious bias toward players.
So, Midday was denied his previously extended invite. I did not feel at the time that it was a big deal because in reality, I had not asked him to do any extra work. I never recorded any segments of the show with him and there wasn't a point that he would have been practicing hard for the invitational, only to be told he couldn't participate. In my mind, he wasn't coming out any further behind than if he had not been offered the spot at all. However, in reflection this is something that I regret has happened and hope that rextending this invite will amend any wrongs done by the previous circumstances caused by my own lack of foresight.
I also want to stress that this was not something I was bullied or guilted into by Midday. I had fully recognized him as a skilled up & comer during Season 1 of Breaking Out and continue to recognize him as such. Despite the fact that his invite has been delayed, he has very much earned that invite spot already. If you are a player and this decision upsets you I urge you to not concern yourself too much with it and to focus on qualifying for the event. There will be (hopefully) many more seasons of Breaking Out, and many more opportunities for you to qualify.
I don't like to have skeletons in my closet. I take pride in the way I handle Breaking Out. I'm a full time software developer doing this whole eSports thing because I love eSports and I love sharing Starcraft with other people. I got into casting because I realized how much I loved talking about the game to people who had never played Starcraft at all before and I loved sharing the emotions I felt when watching an enthralling game. I am quite literally thousands of dollars negative into eSports and since Day 1 I never intended to make a dime from it. I've turned down every offer for payment from the kind people who have offered it, because I have a job and I'm not doing this for the money. I'm doing this because I really love Starcraft, and eSports, and I enjoy throwing myself into it and watching it grow.
So please, close these spoiler tag explanation and don't worry so much about the backstory of how Midday ended up on the show. He is an amazing player who I know is going to give a great performance on both the show and during the invitational. I'm not in this for the money or the fame, or whatever. I just want to show people that there are some damn talented and hardworking individuals in North America trying to "break out", and that they're worth paying attention to. Midday definitely qualifies as one of those players. Let's leave it at that.
I hope the explanation will leave you all satisfied with the result. And with that being said...
I am very excited to have Midday on the show! Remember, there are still 7 spots open! Four players will get a spot through the qualifiers on August 1st and August 10th, two players will qualify via the NA ladder, and the final invite spot will be awarded after the other qualification methods are done.
Thanks, and I hope to see you all tuning in to this season of Breaking Out!
Ravi is the most amazing person ever. Met him in person and he's the nicest dude. He puts so much effort into everything he does for SC2, so i hope this season gets more recognition. Hopefully we get to see some really good players in season 3.
Also, there's been a very slight change on the ladder qualification date deadline. The new date is going to be August 24th(exactly 24 hours later). This is mostly due to my wanting to cover the final hour or two of the ladder qualification and I'll be unavailable to do so on the night of the 23rd.
I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
Sounds like someone's just a little salty that they couldn't play in this tournament
Congrats to Zan and JonSnow for qualifying for Breaking Out Season 3! They earned their spot through the first Breaking Out Qualifier! 5 Spots are left! Great games all around and I hope to see you all playing/watching the next qualifier on Sunday August 10th!
On August 02 2014 10:52 Circumstance wrote: Now I'm even more interested. I've never heard of Zan, and if I ever have, I don't even remember what race he plays.
Terran! I know I'm even more interested just because of that!
Also HUGE shoutout to http://www.youtube.com/filthyrake for donating $500 to the prize pool! Filthyrake has been a supporter of Breaking Out since season 1 and it's absolutely awesome to see him continue the support! <3
On August 02 2014 10:52 Circumstance wrote: Now I'm even more interested. I've never heard of Zan, and if I ever have, I don't even remember what race he plays.
Terran! I know I'm even more interested just because of that!
Also HUGE shoutout to http://www.youtube.com/filthyrake for donating $500 to the prize pool! Filthyrake has been a supporter of Breaking Out since season 1 and it's absolutely awesome to see him continue the support! <3
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
Sounds like someone's just a little salty that they couldn't play in this tournament
Let me act like what you said is worthy of a response... are you talking about a tournament open to any NA players? The tournament where Cham being in it has no bearing on whether anyone else can play in it? I randomly decided to single out Cham, like I've randomly decided to single out your post for making no sense.
I just want to remind everyone to sign up for the 2nd qualifier! The second qualifier IS the ZOWIE rumble for this month. The ZOWIE rumble has an NA only requirement as well but does allow players not registered with Breaking Out to participate. In the situation where someone not approved to register wins the tournament, we'll take the highest placing players, with ties of course being played out if there's more than 2.
Also DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER! Registration deadline is in only 6 days! If you plan to participate in the 2nd qualifier, you MUST REGISTER BEFORE THE QUALIFIER or you will not be considered for it.
im not sure how i feel about non breaking out players being able to play in the 2nd qualifer seems unfair if someone gets knocked out early cause u played a hard opponent early on thats not even applied for it T_T
On August 05 2014 14:44 PandaBearMe wrote: im not sure how i feel about non breaking out players being able to play in the 2nd qualifer seems unfair if someone gets knocked out early cause u played a hard opponent early on thats not even applied for it T_T
To be entirely honest, this was mostly done due to trouble with scheduling. We wanted to run it during a weekend and this was the only weekend that Masterdalk(man admin'ing the entire event) was realistically available. Unfortunately, the ZOWIE rumble was already on that day so we decided to compromise a bit.
I admit it's not the way I wanted it to happen, but the reality is the event is heavily dependent on the amazing volunteer admin, Masterdalk, to run it and this was the best setup we could afford to do. However, we do feel that with the 1st qualifier, the ladder spots and the invite spot, there are still a fair number of ways you can qualify, even if you do get some rough bracket luck. And of course, I don't have any particular inclination to stop the show on Season 3 so if for some reason all of the other 3 methods do not work for you, I hope you still apply for Season 4(which feels weird to be talking about before Season 3 even starts).
So long story short(tl;dr): I agree with you, but the circumstances made it difficult to do otherwise. I personally apologize it ended up this way and I'll be sure to find backup plans in the future to avoid these types of solutions in the future. With that said, there are still lots of other qualification methods that you can make it through.
I just want to remind everyone to make sure you submit your registration! You only have 3 days left to register for Breaking Out and we still have much fewer applications than expected! Remember, you need to be registered BEFORE the 2nd qualifier due to its nature as a qualifier with others involved in it. And of course, you must be registered in order to be considered for the ladder qualifier spots and invites!
On August 05 2014 14:44 PandaBearMe wrote: im not sure how i feel about non breaking out players being able to play in the 2nd qualifer seems unfair if someone gets knocked out early cause u played a hard opponent early on thats not even applied for it T_T
To be entirely honest, this was mostly done due to trouble with scheduling. We wanted to run it during a weekend and this was the only weekend that Masterdalk(man admin'ing the entire event) was realistically available. Unfortunately, the ZOWIE rumble was already on that day so we decided to compromise a bit.
I admit it's not the way I wanted it to happen, but the reality is the event is heavily dependent on the amazing volunteer admin, Masterdalk, to run it and this was the best setup we could afford to do. However, we do feel that with the 1st qualifier, the ladder spots and the invite spot, there are still a fair number of ways you can qualify, even if you do get some rough bracket luck. And of course, I don't have any particular inclination to stop the show on Season 3 so if for some reason all of the other 3 methods do not work for you, I hope you still apply for Season 4(which feels weird to be talking about before Season 3 even starts).
So long story short(tl;dr): I agree with you, but the circumstances made it difficult to do otherwise. I personally apologize it ended up this way and I'll be sure to find backup plans in the future to avoid these types of solutions in the future. With that said, there are still lots of other qualification methods that you can make it through.
Hi, said volunteer admin here. I completely understand why you would be a little on the fence about having non-BO players playing. Unfortunately this summer was fairly taken up for time, and with the shorter window of time between BO2 and BO3 as well as (personally) a lot of stuff being up in the air, it made it a little bit more difficult to schedule everything perfectly.
If I had the option to change it, I would but unfortunately I don't, so this is kind of what we had to do. The other option was to just have 1 qualifier with top 4 qualify but that would be less preferable. There's just so much going on, and I really didn't want to make it feel like anyone would be forced to pick a BO qualifier over something else, but I also didn't want to give my other project the ZOWIE NA Rumbles the back foot.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience but it's the best we could do.
Hey everyone, tomorrow is the LAST DAY TO SUBMIT REGISTRATION! If you plan to participate in the ZOWIE qualifier for Breaking Out tomorrow, PLEASE be sure you register! The same goes if you're interested in participating in the ladder qualifier!
On August 02 2014 10:52 Circumstance wrote: Now I'm even more interested. I've never heard of Zan, and if I ever have, I don't even remember what race he plays.
Terran! I know I'm even more interested just because of that!
Also HUGE shoutout to http://www.youtube.com/filthyrake for donating $500 to the prize pool! Filthyrake has been a supporter of Breaking Out since season 1 and it's absolutely awesome to see him continue the support! <3
Congrats to PandaBearMe on qualifying for Breaking Out Season 3!
The remaining spot will be decided through a round robin play between Trace, Caliber and kifire! All three of these guys will be playing out a bunch of PvP's to see who will earn the 5th spot in Breaking Out Season 3!
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
First, I don't think your post is ban-worthy, you are just expressing your opinion politely.
Next, you gave up after one incident? One incident of a possible hacker (possible because I need more proof or corroboration) and you decide you want to give up? Of course its hard to make a name for yourself, but giving up because of someone else is a poor excuse to hide your fears. Dude just man up and move forward. Don't cry about hackers stopping you from succeeding, because that will happen outside the game.
You think everyone in life is going to play fair? Do you honestly believe that no one will try to rip you off; steal from you; sabotage your shit; or even outright hurt you? I don't think its just this Cham character, I think you gave up because you didn't have the balls to keep going forward after a nasty knockdown.
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
First, I don't think your post is ban-worthy, you are just expressing your opinion politely.
Next, you gave up after one incident? One incident of a possible hacker (possible because I need more proof or corroboration) and you decide you want to give up? Of course its hard to make a name for yourself, but giving up because of someone else is a poor excuse to hide your fears. Dude just man up and move forward. Don't cry about hackers stopping you from succeeding, because that will happen outside the game.
You think everyone in life is going to play fair? Do you honestly believe that no one will try to rip you off; steal from you; sabotage your shit; or even outright hurt you? I don't think its just this Cham character, I think you gave up because you didn't have the balls to keep going forward after a nasty knockdown.
I came from BW. Every time a method for catching hackers was found, a RIDICULOUS amount of competitive players would be found cheating. People you wouldn't even expect or noticed... You can't expect to play in any tournament with money on the line, with random players, without someone hacking. That is why I didn't play in any for so long, as what's the point... To face Cham, who was blatantly hacking... Yeah, it confirmed I wanted nothing to do with random tournaments or ones with him in it.
If you want to play in random tournaments, you have to be better than hackers. I obviously wasn't, so why play... facts... It's sad that you can be an admitted hacker who cheated his way to probably all of his tournaments wins, yet can play in this, no biggie.
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
First, I don't think your post is ban-worthy, you are just expressing your opinion politely.
Next, you gave up after one incident? One incident of a possible hacker (possible because I need more proof or corroboration) and you decide you want to give up? Of course its hard to make a name for yourself, but giving up because of someone else is a poor excuse to hide your fears. Dude just man up and move forward. Don't cry about hackers stopping you from succeeding, because that will happen outside the game.
You think everyone in life is going to play fair? Do you honestly believe that no one will try to rip you off; steal from you; sabotage your shit; or even outright hurt you? I don't think its just this Cham character, I think you gave up because you didn't have the balls to keep going forward after a nasty knockdown.
I came from BW. Every time a method for catching hackers was found, a RIDICULOUS amount of competitive players would be found cheating. People you wouldn't even expect or noticed... You can't expect to play in any tournament with money on the line, with random players, without someone hacking. That is why I didn't play in any for so long, as what's the point... To face Cham, who was blatantly hacking... Yeah, it confirmed I wanted nothing to do with random tournaments or ones with him in it.
If you want to play in random tournaments, you have to be better than hackers. I obviously wasn't, so why play... facts... It's sad that you can be an admitted hacker who cheated his way to probably all of his tournaments wins, yet can play in this, no biggie.
Hey I do understand your frustration, and you have every right to feel frustrated with the hackers.
However, this is SC2, not BW. Thankfully, Blizzard has gotten very good at catching the hackers.
As well, if you truly believe he is hacking during a tournament then prove it. If you want to help the scene, be involved. Don't just slink away; point fingers from the shadows; or cry about it.
As I said before, I don't think the problem is that you played a hacker and he got away with it so now you don't want to try anymore. I think you have a problem with moving forward after any setback.
On August 02 2014 09:30 playa wrote: I'll prob get banned or whatever, but I don't think Cham should be in this. He's the main reason I only played in one non WCS qualifier tournament, in SC 2, and gave up. It's hard to make a name for yourself or anything, when people hack in every tournament you enter. Cham is the reason that we need tournaments like this in the first place.
I played him in a tournament and he blatantly hacked. Instantly reacting. 0 desire to have his overlords be in a location to see whether any expansions were being taken, despite only needing to move a few inches. No awareness of a robo, let alone a warp prism, yet moves all of his units to his base and sets his rallies there when a warp prism approaches. After the fact, I realized he was a self admitted hacker. The guy is like 35-3 on the Z33K site in tournaments, magically beating every Korean he faces.
I don't care if the guy is clean now. He ruined tournaments for everyone and players like him are a big reason why we need tournaments like these.. To see him get rewarded again is just sick.
First, I don't think your post is ban-worthy, you are just expressing your opinion politely.
Next, you gave up after one incident? One incident of a possible hacker (possible because I need more proof or corroboration) and you decide you want to give up? Of course its hard to make a name for yourself, but giving up because of someone else is a poor excuse to hide your fears. Dude just man up and move forward. Don't cry about hackers stopping you from succeeding, because that will happen outside the game.
You think everyone in life is going to play fair? Do you honestly believe that no one will try to rip you off; steal from you; sabotage your shit; or even outright hurt you? I don't think its just this Cham character, I think you gave up because you didn't have the balls to keep going forward after a nasty knockdown.
I came from BW. Every time a method for catching hackers was found, a RIDICULOUS amount of competitive players would be found cheating. People you wouldn't even expect or noticed... You can't expect to play in any tournament with money on the line, with random players, without someone hacking. That is why I didn't play in any for so long, as what's the point... To face Cham, who was blatantly hacking... Yeah, it confirmed I wanted nothing to do with random tournaments or ones with him in it.
If you want to play in random tournaments, you have to be better than hackers. I obviously wasn't, so why play... facts... It's sad that you can be an admitted hacker who cheated his way to probably all of his tournaments wins, yet can play in this, no biggie.
Hey I do understand your frustration, and you have every right to feel frustrated with the hackers.
However, this is SC2, not BW. Thankfully, Blizzard has gotten very good at catching the hackers.
As well, if you truly believe he is hacking during a tournament then prove it. If you want to help the scene, be involved. Don't just slink away; point fingers from the shadows; or cry about it.
As I said before, I don't think the problem is that you played a hacker and he got away with it so now you don't want to try anymore. I think you have a problem with moving forward after any setback.
Thankfully? I was able to play in WCG qualifiers with anti hack. I was able to ladder without playing against hackers. SC 2 is no better than playing on Battle.net East 10 years ago. How many known players have you heard getting caught for hacking or repercussions? Now that there's some money in the game, all of the sudden no one hacks? SC 2 is anything but a step forward.
I actually don't care that much when I face hackers on ladder. What irks me is how people can blatantly hack yet be allowed to play in whatever they want. How long was imbaltoss able to win every tournament, and be number 1 on the ladder, despite everyone knowing he was hacking, lol. SC 2 is a step backward in that regard, for sure.
Congrats to Kif1re(P) on qualifying for Breaking Out Season 3! He made it in alongside PandaBearMe(Z) from the 2nd qualifier but was actually in a three way tie between Kif1re, Caliber and Trace! The three played out a round robin of PvP's and Kif1re came out on top with some really impressive, and unique PvP play! Very much looking forward to having him on the show!
Don't forget the ladder qualifiers will be the final "qualifiable" spots left! Those end in about a week and half so if you didn't manage to qualify yet, get on that grandmaster ladder! I'll be releasing a top 8 list for players in the next few days so be on the lookout for that as well!
P.S. @Playa & Jett.Jack: While I can appreciate the sentiment, the accusations made are pretty severe. I'm not saying you shouldn't make them, but if you do you really should back up your statements with concrete evidence like replays, proof of his "self-admittance", etc. Otherwise, whether you believe it's true or not, it's somewhat unfair because anyone can do it and immediately devalue someone's results, regardless of whether it's true or not.
On August 14 2014 16:07 feardragon wrote: Congrats to Kif1re(P) on qualifying for Breaking Out Season 3! He made it in alongside PandaBearMe(Z) from the 2nd qualifier but was actually in a three way tie between Kif1re, Caliber and Trace! The three played out a round robin of PvP's and Kif1re came out on top with some really impressive, and unique PvP play! Very much looking forward to having him on the show!
Don't forget the ladder qualifiers will be the final "qualifiable" spots left! Those end in about a week and half so if you didn't manage to qualify yet, get on that grandmaster ladder! I'll be releasing a top 8 list for players in the next few days so be on the lookout for that as well!
P.S. @Playa & Jett.Jack: While I can appreciate the sentiment, the accusations made are pretty severe. I'm not saying you shouldn't make them, but if you do you really should back up your statements with concrete evidence like replays, proof of his "self-admittance", etc. Otherwise, whether you believe it's true or not, it's somewhat unfair because anyone can do it and immediately devalue someone's results, regardless of whether it's true or not.
It's old news. If anyone cares, just search... He probably doesn't even hack now. Not only has he said he hacked when he was a "noobie," but he has had replay packs devoted to highlighting his hacking, and he continued to get accused of hacking, monthly, despite being in GM (long since when he was supposed to have stopped). It's not like he has defended it anywhere...
Grats to Kif1re. That's impressive and a little bit surprising!
In exactly 1 week from this post(minutes and hours included) the ladder qualifier for Breaking Out will finish! Since we're a week away, I thought it would be a good time to do the update on the current standings so people have an idea of where they stand. Since we have a small number of barcodes(I keep forgetting to put in the rules not to use barcodes for this...) I'll be keeping leaving out the exact placements/point values of each player out, but will make vague references to point value leads. Here are the top 7 players, with a reminder that the Top 2 qualify. These are the players I think still have a good shot of reaching the top 2 spots.
So here's a bit of general analysis to give some context to these standings.
Between Bails, Bioice and Kelazhur, there's close to a 100 point difference between each. While 100 points may be a good bit, keep in mind there's still a full week left, with plenty of room for change.
The difference between 7th place(Caliber) and 2nd is approx 300 points. Once again, I think doable given there's still a full week left for variance with some dedication.
There's a surprisingly good mix of races in the top 7. There are 2.5 protoss(Caliber is Random/Protoss), 1 Zerg and 3 Terrans, with a few zergs up in the rankings that aren't listed because they've already qualified.
Though the top two are Protoss/Zerg, there are 3 terrans who have a good shot at qualifying. Considering Season 1 and 2 of Breaking Out both only had 1 Terran and both were invites, this is pretty exciting for me.
I'm very interested to see how things will shape up! Best of luck to all the players playing!
I'll be keeping leaving out the exact placements/point values of each player out, but will make vague references to point value leads
Wouldn't it be better to include those so that people can know where they need to get to in order to qualify?
It's a fair complaint that was caused by my not including a rule about barcodes or privacy. I'll say right now that BioIce's Profile shows 1534 points. If you need a general gauge of what to shoot for, you can use that as your gauge.
In about 5 days we've seen a few shifts in the top rankings. Bails is still leading the charge a solid ~100 points ahead of Intense. But Intense has a bit less than a 100 point lead now on Bioice. After that, Trace and Kelazhur are sitting down only about 100 points from Bioice. With about ~70 hours left, there's still some great chances for movement amongst the top 5! As seen with Intense, making the jump from 5th to 2nd, some hard, dedicated work on the ladder can really pay off in boosting up in your ranking! I'm interested to see if anyone else will pop up in a similar fashion at the last second.
Bails still has a solid 100 point lead despite being at redbull! However, the gap between 2nd and 5th is only 50 points. The gap between 2nd and 3rd is barely 15-20 and can chance with a game or two. I'll be streaming the standings in about 15 minutes for anyone that wants to follow them! http://www.twitch.tv/feardragon64
The moment is here! We have our final invite for Breaking Out season 3.....
And the winner is...
.... .... [MicroGamerz] Kelazhur(T)! Congrats to our THIRD terran to qualify for Breaking Out Season 3(am I dreaming?)! He will also be the very first South American player on the show which I'm very excited for. Breaking Out has of course been marketed as a show about North American Starcraft 2 players but I've always been open to the idea of having South Americans on the show, given that they were able to communicate well in english. The South American scene is one that really deserves a bigger highlight for some of the solid players in the scene there and I love watching a lot of them through things like Copa America.
I'm very excited to have him on the show. With that said, our full 8 man roster has been formed! Everyone has been picked and decided. The show will be starting in just over a week! I hope everyone decides to tune in!
Alright! The very first show of Season 3 is tomorrow! It's going to be covering Integrity Gaming's PandaBearMe(Z)! Be sure to tune in at 6pm PST, 9pm EST tomorrow! Here's the TL calendar event if you're still not sure when that is! http://www.teamliquid.net/calendar/2014/09/#event_23728
On September 12 2014 04:40 feardragon wrote: Alright! The very first show of Season 3 is tomorrow! It's going to be covering Integrity Gaming's PandaBearMe(Z)! Be sure to tune in at 6pm PST, 9pm EST tomorrow! Here's the TL calendar event if you're still not sure when that is! http://www.teamliquid.net/calendar/2014/09/#event_23728
Hope to see you all there!!
Is it your birthday feardragon, or is that just TL running in Korean time?
On September 12 2014 04:40 feardragon wrote: Alright! The very first show of Season 3 is tomorrow! It's going to be covering Integrity Gaming's PandaBearMe(Z)! Be sure to tune in at 6pm PST, 9pm EST tomorrow! Here's the TL calendar event if you're still not sure when that is! http://www.teamliquid.net/calendar/2014/09/#event_23728
Hope to see you all there!!
Is it your birthday feardragon, or is that just TL running in Korean time?
Now live with Breaking Out! Today's episode is on Solaris Gaming's JonSnow! He's an American Zerg who's been on the show before for Season 1, and has been on the verge of "breaking out"! Come hear why he feels like this is now his time to show the world what he's got! http://www.twitch.tv/feardragon64
Just letting people know that Breaking Out is going to be postponed this week due to the replay bug in the latest patch. This has unfortunately rendered a lot(read: all) the replays unwatchable for me and the players so casting the replays has been heavily delayed. The show will resume next week on the regular schedule!
Now live with Breaking Out - IvD Zan(T)! This guy is a hyper aggressive Terran player you do not want to miss! Come check it out! http://www.twitch.tv/feardragon64
Now live with Breaking Out - [Dolly] Kelazhur(T)! Normally we only see North Americans on the show but this guy managed to make in! Come find out why! http://www.twitch.tv/feardragon64
Ok, let's be honest, this show is pretty long(averages 2.5 hours). Not everyone has time to watch the full episode before the Invitational next week! Luckily I have a solution!
Learn about player number one: PandaBearMe(Z) in 2.5 minutes! This short recap video will tell you the basics of what you need to know about him so you can cheer for him during the invitational.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qHot3DD.png)
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but then i read all the post.
