Blizzard recently announced some sweeping changes for the 2015 season of WCS, including the introduction of the controversial region lock policy. We asked progamers from all three WCS regions for their thoughts on Blizzard's announcement.

WCS Europe

yoE.San

What are your thoughts on the changes for 2015?
I think I was one of beneficiaries of the 2014 WCS policy. I was able to be very active in a relatively easier region, and I was able to scratch together WCS points as I went to several foreign tournaments. This year's system was good to me, but I think it would have been annoying to watch for players competing in the Korea region -- watching someone who you think is a worse player get more prize money and WCS points. So I don't think region locking is a bad idea for 2015. You could say things will become more fair?

On the other hand, I don't know if the region lock will have much meaning, contrary to Blizzard's intent. The European players all seem to have visas except me, and I don't know how much meaning there would be if it was just me dropping out of the region. As for WCS America, I expect big changes...

Have you considered trying to get a visa in Taiwan in order to compete in WCS America?
Yes, even before the region lock was announced, I've been preparing to get a working visa. It doesn't seem so difficult, so I should be able to compete in WCS America next year if I want. There's a good chance that the Taiwanese prelims will be a Korean party. There's six Korean players right now who are competing in Taiwan, and more players might join as well. That could really ruin the purpose of a region lock... There's a high chance that the winners of the Taiwanese prelim will be all Korean. [Note: This is San's speculation -- there has been no confirmation by Blizzard on this point. Related info here.]

Honestly, if you lock NA... I don't know if this is a nice way to put it, but it would be like Spain's football league having Barcelona and Real Madrid go up against a bunch of division five teams that were suddenly promoted to the top flight. 2015 might be even better for me than 2014, but as a fan of StarCraft 2, it might be boring to watch. The North American scene needs to develop, and it's still lagging behind Europe. I wonder if a pure nationality lock would have been better.

In any case, Korea needs more WCS points and prize money if Blizzard is going to lock regions. Overall, I think a region lock is good for the growth of SC2, but there could be a lot of side effects. There's a lot of time left until the 2015 season starts, and I hope Blizzard finalizes the system well.

mYi.StarDust

What do you think of the WCS 2015 changes? Positive or negative?
Outside whether it's good or bad, I notice some holes in the system. Visas are the criteria here, so it seems like as long as you can get the right visa, you could just live in Korea and travel for tournaments like you can now.

In terms of protecting EU/AM players... I think Europe already has achieved a degree of self-sustainability already. European players are pretty good, right? I think they've always had potential, from Stephano and Naniwa before and players like VortiX, Snute, and Bunny who are growing now. North America, I'm not really sure. If you filled the WCS Ro32 with just NA players, the line-up would look so... light.

In short, I welcome the changes to the system. Because the foreign scene has to live for StarCraft 2 to succeed. I think you have to grow the entire pie. Even if Korean players have to take a hit (although that doesn't matter in my case).

Whether or not foreign players will grow or decline as they compete among themselves... that I don't know!

Do you feel that the level of competition on the EU ladder has gone up after Koreans settled there?
Yes, I agree completely. When I first went to Europe from Korea, I was better at first. As time passed, it felt like people were catching up.

What would your plan be if it turned out you couldn't compete in Europe under Blizzard's new WCS standards?
It wouldn't matter to me. It wouldn't be good, but I think I'm already receiving enough benefits.

Anything outside the region lock you'd like Blizzard to take a look at in the WCS 2015 season?
Faster feedback? I'd like more direct communication with progamers when they're balancing maps or units. I think the speed at which they take progamer opinions into account is slow.

For example, if a major flaw was found during WCS 2015, I'd like if a change was made in the middle of things. I feel like we've lost a lot in 2014 because of too much focus on maintaining consistency.

Liquid`TLO

What are your thoughts on the region lock?
Well I've already given my thoughts to Aceresport.

"I think it's good that people are required to have the proper visa to compete in their regions. eSports lately keeps crying: ''look at us we're so legitimate''. So if we want to have that being taken seriously, there is certain legal protocol that needs to be followed. Sooner or later players would get in trouble anyways. I hope many Korean teams and players will be able to get a Visa and still be able to compete in other regions. It would be a shame if this will remove the majority of the Koreans in my opinion."

F*** Acer. How do you think this will affect WCS EU in terms of popularity and level of competition?
I don't think it'll affect Europe that much to be honest. Maybe it'll help viewership if non-Koreans make it deeper into WCS or even the finals, but I bet the best Koreans will still stay here anyway.

Do you think that a stronger foreign scene is necessary for the long term success of SC2?
I do believe a stronger foreign scene is required yes. However to reach that goal we don't need to kick out Koreans -- instead we need to strengthen our infrastructure. Teams need the money to invest into proper training structure and take a bigger role than just being an agency for players. Region lock is just a cop out, not a long term solution.

At the same time non Korean progamers also need to step it up. There's too few pros who take their job seriously outside of Korea. I don't think the Korean model of team houses is particularly great either, but it gives the players in Korea at least enough discipline and structure to train a lot (albeit inefficiently in my opinion). It's still better than how it is for most people who try do it on their own. It's hard to not be lazy when you're working from home and can decide the majority of your schedule by yourself.

Liquid`Bunny

General thoughts?
I think it’s very healthy for the scene. It gives up and coming players a reason to practice harder and hopefully there will be some more high level foreigners as a result. I feel sorry for some of the Koreans though, there are a lot of them who will have a hard time competing in Korea if they have to go back, it will probably cause retirements.

I'm happy that Blizzard are allowing people from Taiwan and China to play in WCS NA instead of Korea. I hope the region locking in 2015 works out well!

What do you think of concerns that the change will cause some pros to become more complacent instead of motivating them to compete?
I think anyone who would become complacent at an easier chance to earn more money and fame doesn’t have what it takes in the first place!

Snute theorized some time back that the large number of Koreans moving to Europe and playing on the server had caused the foreigners to get better as well. Do you agree, and how would you feel if more Koreans decided to acquire visas and relocate to Europe as a result of the WCS lock?
It definitely helped raise the overall level, I think I personally learned a lot from playing against some of the Koreans. I’m not sure if the European region would benefit more from having even more Koreans, it would probably just become harder to place high. But I guess all the best Koreans are still going to play in WCS KR, and getting a few average Koreans over shouldn’t be a big deal.

mill.VortiX

Overall thoughts?
I kinda like the new changes, I think right now it's bad that people can play qualifiers, Challenger and Premier league of regions where they don't live in, and resetting everything for 2015 is cool since people's shape vary a lot from one season to another

Do you think it will actually result in a big change for Europe, considering the fact that many of the Koreans are already living in the region on visas?
Won't change too much from now I guess, but it will maybe prevent new Korean players trying to play WCS EU if they fail in GSL. Like if the current system went on I wouldn't be surprised if we had lot more Koreans in the future and perhaps full Korean lineup in ro8, and lot more than now in ro16/ro32.

Do you think we might see the return of some European pros who were discouraged/retired in the past?
As long as it's not a full region lock I don't think so, like there might still be 6-7 Koreans that are gonna be allowed to play if I'm not wrong, and all of them are favoured against any foreigner, I guess if I retired because the massive amount of Koreans I wouldn't be back unless there were 0 Koreans and I thought I had real chances of making top1.

mill.ForGG

What do you think of the WCS 2015 changes that were announced?
I think it's a good policy. There are some players in WCS Europe who live and practice in Korea and only come to Europe to play in tournaments, and I think that is unfair. I also think that WCS Korea's prize money should go up while NA should get less prize money relatively. Assuming that many Koreans in WCS America will return to the GSL, the level of WCS America is just going to be too easy compared to Korea or Europe.

Snute has theorized that the relocation of Korean players to Europe has improved the level of play on the server. Do you agree?
Yes, when I first came to Europe it was very easy playing on the server. Now, there's a lot of Korean players on the server, and the overall level of European players has gone up as well.

In the end, do you think there will be a big change in the WCS Europe region specifically?
No, I don't think there will be a big effect on WCS Europe.

GSL/WCS Korea

SKT_soO

As a player in the GSL, what are your thoughts on the WCS region lock?
From my perspective, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. I'm not really sure about the exact rules, but I think from a fan's perspective, it would have been a bit boring to see Koreans dominate all the tournaments.

Anyone returning to the GSL you're worried about, or would like to face?
I'm not exactly sure who's coming back, but I've always wanted to face TaeJa. I hope he comes over.

Blizzard is considering the redistribution of WCS points by region. What do you think is an appropriate amount for Korea compared to other regions?
Hmmm, I don't know why there's a need to do that. I think all regions should reward the same amount of points.

Well, for example we're in the situation where Classic, a champion of the toughest region, might not make it to Blizzcon this year.
I don't think GSL is the hardest, I think it's all pretty similar. I think non-Korean wins should be recognized all the same.

However, if the points are the same, I wish the other conditions were the same as well. Proleague makes it so that it's hard to collect WCS points in Korea, so I would like it if there were similar opportunities to earn points in Korea outside of the GSL.

Samsung_Solar

As a player in the GSL, what are your thoughts on the WCS region lock?
Well, it wouldn't be that bad for me. And foreign players would be able to get some better results as well. In exchange, I think it would be appropriate to increase the number of WCS points you could earn in Korea as a whole.

Anyone you'd like to face among the players returning to the GSL?
Personally, I'd like to face TaeJa. Also, I want to see Jaedong and Flash face each other.

Any other things you'd like to see Blizzard pay attention to in 2015?
Hm, I'd like it if they'd try to get KeSPA players opinions when they're making balance patches. Like, have KeSPA send out a survey to all the players. I'd like it if they'd ask all of us our opinions. Also, when they're making new maps, I'd like it if they asked us our opinions before making them ladder maps. Finally, it would be great if we could have four or more GSLs a year. Three is too few T_T

WCS America

Liquid`TaeJa

General thoughts on the region lock?
Hm, I guess they locked the regions because Koreans were taking such huge advantage of competing in other regions.

I think if Blizzard wanted to stop Koreans from competing in other regions, they should have locked things off the bat. I don't know why they're stepping in now and stopping Koreans. For Europe, it doesn't seem like it's a big deal to get a visa. It's just the players competing in WCS America who are getting the short end of the stick.

Don't you think that the North American scene needs to grow in order for the long term health of SC2?
There aren't even many NA pros to save.

So what's next for you?
Me, well I'm retiring anyway. I was already planning to retire after this year, I have to do my military service and all...

x5.PiG

Well firstly we don't know TOO many details about what's happening, if I'm correct its just that there will be a proper/more serious region-lock based on residency, the entire system will be reset, and Blizz are LOOKING at more points/money for KR. I think it's looking good because it should improve the play, the storylines and chance for viewer + talent growth for each region.

1. The play - Forcing people to relocate forces them onto the local ladders if they want to play latency-free. This has a flow on effect of helping the region. I'd be even happier if not only was there a residency requirement but also a ladder requirement where players had to play several hundred games on their WCS ladder each season, or they would fall out of the system. Either way, any Koreans playing in a foreign region will have to live and practice there, and hopefully more personal connections/practice will spring up between them and the local players, as well as their improved ladder practice

2. Fostering talent - It's clear that certain regions have superior environments for fostering talent. This comes down to the strength of the local ladder, the existence of teamhouses and similar ideal practice environments and how numerous chances for competition are. In this regard Korea has the strongest ladder and teamhouses and is overall the strongest. Europe has the most chances for competition and a few teamhouses, so it comes in second. North America comes in last with no active SC2 teamhouses, the weakest ladder and the fewest chances for competition. The issue arises when you let players benefit from one environment whilst competing in another, weaker environment for WCS. We saw this most of all with half of NA premier league being players living in Korea but competing in the weaker region.

Now I'll finally get to my point by explaining it in relation to tennis. Let's imagine Nadal decided to compete in the womens competitions at a Grand Slam... it would kind of fuck with the established storyline of women's tennis, because well, this dude came and destroyed everyone really one-sidedly. It's kind of gross to watch your heroes get demolished like that and it derides the importance of the league. People will probably get mad at that and be all "But foreigners aren't women, there's no physical/biological thing holding them back and nothing stopping them going to Korea to practice and compete." But it's not just foreigners that have this problem, it's also Koreans that live in the weaker environments for a long period, they too start to struggle with the players who come fresh from the Korean environment.

Many in eSports can't afford to send players to practice in Korea to compete alongside these guys and so it just becomes a situation where the newest players from the Korean environment have a tendency to win- ALOT. In effect, it's like a new male champion coming in every year and shitting on the integrity of the league. That's my long winded retarded way of explaining why I think the previous system was bad for storylines. The hardly known PiGbaby's (hehe) coming in and collecting their prize, without adding anything to the environment, or truly becoming a part of the local scene. I HOPE that with the new system the environments outside Korea will improve at a faster rate, the storylines of each region will become more stable with more recurring heroes and more clashes of talent with local identities.

As for the reset I think anything that forces so many players to relocate their life or change regions there needs to be a reset to make it fair to all. As someone outside of the current system I'm very excited at so many spots being available in season 1!

As a SEA player, any thoughts on being held in thrall to WCS America for the third year running?
It sucks but we aren't big enough to have our own thing so whatever I guess, at this point I'm used to it and kind of accepting of it. I'd actually like to come overseas to compete for most of next year if I can justify it, but competing with some lag to NA isn't the worst card one could draw .

CMStorm_Polt

What do you think of the WCS 2015 changes?
There hasn't been much announced so far, so I think we should wait until more details are out. Region locking in itself is a good idea, but it will be very important to see how Blizzard handles the player imbalance between regions. In any case, I think it's a good change in the long run.

North America has been in a bad place for a while -- do you think the region lock could help?
The NA players seem very positive about the change, so I suppose it will at least be better than before?

Some fans are saying you're the true winner in all of this. What's your take on that?
Well, as some of you know, I have to go to the military and so my remaining days as a progamer are limited. I hope I can win it all at the end, and go out in a good way.

There's still more details left to be announced about WCS. Anything you'd like to see addressed?
I'd like it if Blizzard looked at the point distribution for BlizzCon qualification. I think it's correct to remove points from tournaments where the proportion of invited players is high. Also, there's very few Tier 1 tournaments compared to Tier 2 tournaments. Blizzard should either reduce the Tier 1 requirements, raise the requirements for Tier 2, or create a new tier in between. It would be good if Blizzard tweaked the system in some way to allow for a wider variety of tournaments.

Roccat_HyuN

What do you think about the WCS 2015 changes? The Korean community is reacting negatively, but it seems the foreign community is positive.
Hmm, well I guess it would be mostly Korean players who get hurt? Personally I don't have any special feelings about it -- I just play as the rules tell me to.

If you had to return to the GSL, would you base yourself in Europe and fly out to Korea for GSL matches?
No, I think that would probably be impossible? As it is now, it seems like I'd be forced back to the GSL. For me it would be like last year, staying based in Korea while I fly out to foreign tournaments.

The uncertain thing about this is that Korean players with certain visas will still be able to play in non-Korean regions. So those players will be benefiting even more than they are now. Polt and viOLet should be able to keep getting good results in North America, as well as the players who have visas in Europe. You might even see more players try to get European visas and move to that region. At least that's how it seems to me. I think that if they are going to lock the regions, then maybe a stricter lock would be better?

Is there anything else you'd like Blizzard to take care of in the 2015 season of WCS?
I heard that the tax on BlizzCon prize money is pretty high. It's the biggest tournament of the year, so I hope they can give more consideration for taxes like in Dota2. If they can't, then oh well.

EG.HuK

The large majority of community figures think this is the right/smart move for SC2. That includes Korean players who are negatively affected by it or team owners (TB who has been pushing for it for over a year). A lot of people are worried about Korean retirements, which is definitely an issue; and has been an issue for the foreign scene since 2 years ago when WCS was opened up to Koreans. Hopefully this means that NA/EU foreign progamers will work harder since incentive is there money wise to actually make some decent money, and more importantly amateur/aspiring progamers will have something to look forward to. Overall the bottom line is that there will always be a side suffering, for last 2 years its been NA/EU regions for WCS and now it is Korea.

The only way everyone is happy if Blizzard invests a lot more money into more tournaments, but at this point they are already investing so much and it is unreasonable. Hopefully we see some WCS points added to proleague or GSL, but even if it's not I would expect to still see 90%+ of BlizzCon participants under the current system for be Koreans. I want to remind the community of a few points though, KeSPA is truly king right now in Korea as well as teams/sponsorships. The #1 thing most pro players want out of SC2 is simply to do what they love and make a livable wage so they can keep doing so. For awhile now for the majority of foreign pro players this has been nearly impossible, especially NA pros who don't have the social infrastructure that the EU countries may have as well as the tougher competition in GSL lite (WCS AM).

As expected a lot of western teams are offering less and less salary and players are dependent on winnings/other revenue. KeSPA players on average earn more salary and have a minimal livable salary as well housing and other support for their players. It's a tough situation, but in the end its the right decision. The ones who will suffer the most is non KeSPA Korean players.

Regarding the revitalization of the NA pro scene, do you think the outlook is positive with just WCS America and possibly Red Bull next year?
WCS region lock is definitely going to help, if Redbull is still going to do SC2 ; I would be very happy looking forward to playing another year as a old progamer.

ROOT.CatZ

I'm happy about the changes, when NASL started and WCS wasn't even a thing I was voicing concerns on the growth of the NA and EU scenes, EU did better with more tournaments and regional leagues like the EPS. Koreans moving to EU and practicing on the EU ladder certainly helped EU as a whole maintain a better level and the NA ladder as a result is complete ass right now. The great majority of good NA players play on other servers today as a result. I think that these changes will slowly but steadily help the growth and the skill level of the NA scene and give its players motivation and something to improve and work hard for.

I've likely been the person to voice these concerns most openly for the longest time and so I know that it's a very polarizing topic. It's hard to argue with people who say "I just want to watch the best possible games" because it is my opinion that foreign players are just as smart as Koreans, just as talented, and in many cases just as hard working. The lack of infrastructure is perhaps the biggest gap that needs to be closed. I know I have many Korean practice partners and I discuss strategy and in many cases 'teach' and advise code S level players on their play and strategy. I do the same with plenty of foreigners and I honestly don't think there's any sort of a gap as far as understanding of the game and strategy goes. Mechanically the very top level Koreans are better in general and the metagame is slightly different in each region but in all honesty I call bullcrap on people whose argument is "I want to see the best game of SC2 possible and I can tell the difference between top foreign play and Korean play" because I'm almost certain they can't.

Foreign play can be just as interesting, just as deep strategically, and in many cases just as or very close to Korean top level mechanically. When Destiny said this in the past he got a load of crap for it, but seriously; I know i'd have trouble watching a game and recognizing a Code S from a top foreigner game if the names were to be blacked out. I could cast a game of Flash vs soO point out every mistake and say it was Petraeus vs Bunny and most people would believe it, much like I could cast Illusion vs Kane, praise all of the little things they do and say it was Flash vs soO. I REALLY doubt many people could tell the difference (generally speaking, random examples, obviously you could tell who your favorite player is if you know his style and patterns) and by many people I mean, I doubt anyone who isn't at least KR GM level would have much of a chance to say with certainty who's who.

Anyway that's my opinion on that and an experiment I'd like to do at some point, I think casters often times show clear bias towards "favored" players a lot of the time and tend to point out mistakes from the player that is more unlikely to win a match, because obviously you want to be right and that's the safe bet in 'calling the game.' In reality often times it's tiny edges the casters miss many times that decide or change the course of the game. Quick example is my 1 base muta game vs Snute @ RB Detroit, the casters were very confused and said things like "Sorry catz but this is just not going to work" or "If this works I'll have to just quit" obviously neither of them played Zerg, but watching the VOD it felt more like "Sorry CatZ you won't beat Snute" where as I'm certain if it had been soO doing the same strategy they'd be very interested to see where it was going and how it could work instead of trying to find reasons and mistakes that they thought would eventually lose me the game.

The skill gap between foreigners and Koreans is all in tiny details, and often times its not even there. I bring up the casters because I think that's part of the reason why people think they can tell apart foreigners and Koreans -- we normally see Koreans praised for their play while foreigners are often times expected to lose before the game starts. I think people should be hyped for good games, hyped for the new format, and look forward to seeing what the NA scene can do and what it can become. Because there's certainly a lot of talent -- I think WCS NA will have plenty of amazing games and I'm really excited for it. I'm glad Blizzard is slowly but surely doing what I believe to be the correct moves to maintain the game and potentially grow it's fanbase once LotV comes around.

Once again I know this is a polarizing opinion, and there's many people who want to see skill rewarded, I hope GSL awards more points and more prize money, I have no issues with that , but I'm happy WCS NA will be more focused towards the growth of you know... NA. And I think in the long run that's definitely for the best of the game. And even if some people don't agree with that, I think it's hard to deny that viewership numbers in tournaments often times go down when the last foreigner is out, unlike BW, most of the viewership for SC2 is outside of Korea. That's why we even see KeSPA wanting foreign teams to participate in Proleague, its because foreigners still drive a lot of the audience. The better foreigners perform and the more exposure they get the better for the game in the long run.

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