The WCS Premier League, the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) Code S, and SPOTV Games Individual League will all share the same distribution of WCS points in 2015.
Note: The SPOTV league will feature 16 players, and not offer points below 16th place.
WCS Challenger and GSL Code A will continue to offer 50 points to the eliminated player.
WCS Global Events will offer the same distribution of points as in 2014. You can find the new requirements in our WCS 2015 announcement.
WCS Global Events Start Now!
Events year-round will now be included in the WCS Standings and offer WCS points. Events held after the Global Finals at BlizzCon 2014 will be wrapped into the 2015 tally and subject to the 2015 requirements—two such events already qualify:
2014 Hot6 Cup – 4000 WCS points – November 18 to December 7 IEM San Jose – 4000 WCS points – December 6 and 7 Due to the current off-season, these tournaments are allowed to choose their own map pool.
WCS Premier League Prize Pool
With WCS America and WCS Europe uniting into the brand new WCS Premier League, their prize pools are also combined. Check out the breakdown of prizes:
Residency Requirement Clarification and Changes for WCS
Players Training Outside of Their Home Region
Players who are a citizen in a country within a WCS region will be allowed to participate in that region’s qualifiers and Challenger regardless of their current residency status.
Exception for Long-Standing Residency
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013.
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013."
So does that affect any of the korean foreigners?
Also, Korea is gonna be fricking rolling in WCS points now.
On November 26 2014 05:33 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: "Exception for Long-Standing Residency
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013."
Bit disappointed by the prize distribution on WCS. I'm okay with giving more to ro32 players but I would have wanted Challengers to get more as well. Oh well.
Also, WCS Global events in 2014 already? Whaaaaaaat? :U
On November 26 2014 05:33 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: "Exception for Long-Standing Residency
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013."
So does that affect any of the korean foreigners?
Also, Korea is gonna be fricking rolling in WCS points now.
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013.
Not surprised. So I guess alot of the EU koreans will remain, and the region will benefit from this if we concider the level on the ladder, but prize money will disappear to KR again...
On November 26 2014 05:36 klipik12 wrote: Bit disappointed by the prize distribution on WCS. I'm okay with giving more to ro32 players but I would have wanted Challengers to get more as well. Oh well.
Also, WCS Global events in 2014 already? Whaaaaaaat? :U
Challengers were getting 600 $ this season and 2,000 $ next year...
So after all of the hand-wringing people had over foreigners getting their own tournament, and Blizzard's previous comments that they want to have a Global Finals that isn't all one country, the system is already more Korean-favored than 2014 was.
On November 26 2014 05:33 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: "Exception for Long-Standing Residency
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013."
So does that affect any of the korean foreigners?
Also, Korea is gonna be fricking rolling in WCS points now.
It means if you're like Zest then making it to Blizzcon shouldn't be too hard
On November 26 2014 05:46 Circumstance wrote: So after all of the hand-wringing people had over foreigners getting their own tournament, and Blizzard's previous comments that they want to have a Global Finals that isn't all one country, the system is already more Korean-favored than 2014 was.
It depends if they fly everywhere the logic is that giving Korean's more tournaments in Korea encourages them to stay there. It just means that it's more likely that non-KeSPA players will be forced to fly to pick up points if they don't do well in Korean leagues and not many are on teams that can afford that. The system seems to favour KeSPA guys more than anything.
Good move on doing the right thing ForGG's case without fuss. Despite all the flak they can receive, some people at Blizzard have good sense. Thanks Blizz people.
On November 26 2014 05:46 Circumstance wrote: So after all of the hand-wringing people had over foreigners getting their own tournament, and Blizzard's previous comments that they want to have a Global Finals that isn't all one country, the system is already more Korean-favored than 2014 was.
It depends if they fly everywhere the logic is that giving Korean's more tournaments in Korea encourages them to stay there. It just means that it's more likely that non-KeSPA players will be forced to fly to pick up points if they don't do well in Korean leagues and not many are on teams that can afford that. The system seems to favour KeSPA guys more than anything.
I'm talking about there being a chance for at least one person to represent the entire rest of the world at Blizzcon.
On November 26 2014 05:46 Circumstance wrote: So after all of the hand-wringing people had over foreigners getting their own tournament, and Blizzard's previous comments that they want to have a Global Finals that isn't all one country, the system is already more Korean-favored than 2014 was.
well WCS 2015 seems more korean favored for going to Blizzcon, but WCS Premier as a tournament is a lot more foreigner favored than it was before
Does anyone know if the two Korean tournaments are independent leagues? Like if a player plays in GSL, is he locked in the GSL tournament and cannot play in SPOTV?
On November 26 2014 06:03 Brutaxilos wrote: Does anyone know if the two Korean tournaments are independent leagues? Like if a player plays in GSL, is he locked in the GSL tournament and cannot play in SPOTV?
Well, the bonus money for WCS premier (European point of view) is huge! just making it into challenger, 2k$? and 4.5K$ for 17th-32nd? Basically it tailors very well to the European scene, a lot of people that play from home and can make a LOT of money without any travelling costs and without beating any Koreans (afaik, 4.5K-5K$ is a semifinal-worthy prize in some non-WCS LAN's.......). I don't know where this leaves American players though, losing their own region and fighting European players for slots is going to be tough. Also, i dont know how the Asian players previously grouped with AM will feel, how will the lag be when a chinese/taiwanese/SEA guy will play a European?
Also all the bashing that the community did regarding "korea doesn't have enough tournaments, give Koreans in Korea more WCS points etc" worked, now Koreans are spolied and even those without the means to go abroad can have 2 major leagues (+weeklys like Olimo etc) where they can prove their worth. This is also positive in the fact that there isn't that much of a temptation for Koreans to fill up the other servers in search of easy money.
Finally i want to agree with someone above, for Korean powerhouse (KESPA) teams, it is heaven on earth. They can rack in the money from the KR tournaments, while still sending 1-2 star players to collect from worldwide LANs...... But the opposite can also be true....if any foreign team has the balls and the money to support a big pro-player living in Korea (hello mYi.Rain!!) they can also rack in some serious prize $$ from the double-leagues..
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013.
Not surprised. So I guess alot of the EU koreans will remain, and the region will benefit from this if we concider the level on the ladder, but prize money will disappear to KR again...
I doubt any Koreans except ForGG qualify for this rule since you have had to be a resident as of January 1 2013 or earlier. Most Koreans never resided in Europe or AM at all, they just flew in for WCS AM/EU. Even MC was still playing in Code S as of January 2013.
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013.
In our original announcement, we stated that players must have a valid residency visa (i.e. work visa, athlete visa, student visa) in order to compete in a region’s WCS Challenger. While that is true for the vast majority of players, we will be waiving the requirement for players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013.
So in other words, for no players whatsoever?
It benefits ForGG.
Also, State can participate in WCS Foreigner now if he wanted to given that he's American :D
Oh I never knew you have to use the ladder map pool in order to award WCS points for your tournament. Hmm I wonder if ProLeague will be Ladder maps as well now, kinda was the only selling point it had for me.
On November 26 2014 05:36 klipik12 wrote: Bit disappointed by the prize distribution on WCS. I'm okay with giving more to ro32 players but I would have wanted Challengers to get more as well. Oh well.
Also, WCS Global events in 2014 already? Whaaaaaaat? :U
Challengers were getting 600 $ this season and 2,000 $ next year...
Okay nvm, wow I'm dumb. Was looking at points instead of $$... >.<
On November 26 2014 06:16 Heartland wrote: No news on PL points?
My guess is the top proleague players will get invites to KesPA cup, and with 3 KesPA cups this year, doing well in proleague is more important.
And proleague did make a difference this year. Without the 800 points from KesPA cup, which he was invited to because of PL, herO would not have gone to Blizzcon.
On November 26 2014 06:16 Heartland wrote: No news on PL points?
My guess is the top proleague players will get invites to KesPA cup, and with 3 KesPA cups this year, doing well in proleague is more important.
And proleague did make a difference this year. Without the 800 points from KesPA cup, which he was invited to because of PL, herO would not have gone to Blizzcon.
Hopefully this is the kind of thing they do, giving points for performing in a team league, for an individual system is...spotty
On November 26 2014 06:52 Nerchio wrote: That's very decent money for top32 WCS, I wonder how hard the competition will be
Well now we know at the very least that a foreigner will need to take out either Polt or ForGG or viOLet (or maybe even all three if they don't play each other!) so it won't be that easy to win.
On November 26 2014 06:52 Nerchio wrote: That's very decent money for top32 WCS, I wonder how hard the competition will be
Well now we know at the very least that a foreigner will need to take out either Polt or ForGG or viOLet (or maybe even all three if they don't play each other!) so it won't be that easy to win.
violet really isn't as scary as he used to be... Polt and ForGG still pose a significant threat though
I'm liking this a lot. My only concern: what about the post Blizzcon tournaments that are already finished or ongoing? As a PartinG fanboy, it'd be great to see him get WCS points from his victory in HSC. Also, what about this coming DreamHack?
On November 26 2014 07:11 dyDrawer wrote: I'm liking this a lot. My only concern: what about the post Blizzcon tournaments that are already finished or ongoing? As a PartinG fanboy, it'd be great to see him get WCS points from his victory in HSC. Also, what about this coming DreamHack?
HSC X was mostly invitational. DreamHack Winter will be full of players who already got WCS points in 2014 for finishing in the Top 4, plus some invites. I'm thinking this is part of the reason why they don't award 2015 WCS points.
Finally a good change for WCS. Koreans living outside of Korea since January 1, 2013 are saved! But who does this apply to besides ForGG and I think Revival?
On November 26 2014 06:13 Hassan_RO wrote: Well, the bonus money for WCS premier (European point of view) is huge! just making it into challenger, 2k$? and 4.5K$ for 17th-32nd? Basically it tailors very well to the European scene, a lot of people that play from home and can make a LOT of money without any travelling costs and without beating any Koreans (afaik, 4.5K-5K$ is a semifinal-worthy prize in some non-WCS LAN's.......). I don't know where this leaves American players though, losing their own region and fighting European players for slots is going to be tough. Also, i dont know how the Asian players previously grouped with AM will feel, how will the lag be when a chinese/taiwanese/SEA guy will play a European?
Also all the bashing that the community did regarding "korea doesn't have enough tournaments, give Koreans in Korea more WCS points etc" worked, now Koreans are spolied and even those without the means to go abroad can have 2 major leagues (+weeklys like Olimo etc) where they can prove their worth. This is also positive in the fact that there isn't that much of a temptation for Koreans to fill up the other servers in search of easy money.
Finally i want to agree with someone above, for Korean powerhouse (KESPA) teams, it is heaven on earth. They can rack in the money from the KR tournaments, while still sending 1-2 star players to collect from worldwide LANs...... But the opposite can also be true....if any foreign team has the balls and the money to support a big pro-player living in Korea (hello mYi.Rain!!) they can also rack in some serious prize $$ from the double-leagues..
Anyway, in general very good moves imho.
You don't have to worry about this. All regions have their own qualifiers so latency can be avoided as much as possible. Then when its the ro32 and the regions are all combined for premier league, its all live from there.
Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
On November 26 2014 07:31 Charoisaur wrote: Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
Koreans involed in the local scene allowed to participate in local WCS seems sensible imo
Lots more money going into foreigners' pockets. This system is a win for everyone except Koreans that were competing outside of Korea, but without relocating.
I'm glad they manned up and actually made an exception for people like ForGG instead of being hardasses about it. I'll definitely be interested in seeing how the new Korean leagues pan out!
On November 26 2014 07:45 SuperHofmann wrote: What about the GEM's guys?
It is known that First, YoDa and MC are going back to Korea next year. Don't know about HyuN.
None of them qualify. You had to have been actually living in a foreign country as of January 1, 2013. Just being on a foreign team or going to a lot of foreign events isn't enough. Were any Koreans actually living outside of Korea at this point except Polt and viOLet (who don't need this exemption) and ForGG?
PL always used its own map pool... did you watch PL in 2014? They had plenty of maps that were never in the map pool, like Outboxer and that ridiculous rock map whose name I have blocked out. And PL adopted King Sejong long before it was in the WCS map pool as well.
On November 26 2014 07:45 SuperHofmann wrote: What about the GEM's guys?
It is known that First, YoDa and MC are going back to Korea next year. Don't know about HyuN.
What about MMA? I'm looking him up right now, he was in Code S in November of 2012 and in WCS EU in April 2013. He's right on the line but I can't tell which way he falls. He left Korea under some less than ideal circumstances.
On November 26 2014 09:57 Yakikorosu wrote: PL always used its own map pool... did you watch PL in 2014? They had plenty of maps that were never in the map pool, like Outboxer and that ridiculous rock map whose name I have blocked out. And PL adopted King Sejong long before it was in the WCS map pool as well.
On November 26 2014 07:45 SuperHofmann wrote: What about the GEM's guys?
It is known that First, YoDa and MC are going back to Korea next year. Don't know about HyuN.
What about MMA? I'm looking him up right now, he was in Code S in November of 2012 and in WCS EU in April 2013. He's right on the line but I can't tell which way he falls. He left Korea under some less than ideal circumstances.
Giving good PL players seeds into KeSPA Cup to earn points makes way more sense than giving PL performances WCS points directly. This is pretty obvious.
On November 26 2014 11:32 SNSeigifried wrote: Anyone know when StarDust moved to EU ik he moved quite early there 0_0
Yeah, StarDust may qualify. Liquipedia has him joining mYi in May 2013, but he was on LighT since late 2012, and I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe in his Blizzcon preview?) that he moved to the U.S. when he was on LighT? I just don't know enough about him since he was pretty under the radar until he won that DreamHack in June 2013.
On November 26 2014 11:32 SNSeigifried wrote: Anyone know when StarDust moved to EU ik he moved quite early there 0_0
Yeah, StarDust may qualify. Liquipedia has him joining mYi in May 2013, but he was on LighT since late 2012, and I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe in his Blizzcon preview?) that he moved to the U.S. when he was on LighT? I just don't know enough about him since he was pretty under the radar until he won that DreamHack in June 2013.
He has been in Europe since he joined mYi I reckon.
On November 26 2014 10:05 Waxangel wrote: With this many points in Korea now, there's no need to go to the very complicated business of adding proleague points
Exactly, ProLeague sits above all other tournaments and players need no additional reason to compete.
On November 26 2014 13:46 Die4Ever wrote: so what's the list of koreans qualifying for different regions? Polt and violet for USA? ForGG and Stardust for Europe?
are SPOTV and GSL open to all players or only koreans?
SPOTV qualifiers are available to all masters players over 12 as long as they attend the studio on the day of.
I forgot to mention, this new system is very good also for TB and his Axiom team.
He had the resources and the courage to keep them running/operating in Korea, with a team house, and with sending to afew international tournaments......without any really major performances/titles.
Now with all the money and points in Korea, maybe he's interested to finally enroll them in PL, maybe in alliance with Acer (MMA) or mYi (Rain).......
Proleague points was always an awful idea both from a logistical and egalitarian standpoint. The only reason people were suggesting it, was that top Proleague players just didn't have many opportunities to get points. With additional Korean tournaments this is no longer a problem. Adding more tournaments in Korea was always the only good solution, though most people didn't believe Blizzard would ever do that.
On November 26 2014 18:08 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Proleague points was always an awful idea both from a logistical and egalitarian standpoint. The only reason people were suggesting it, was that top Proleague players just didn't have many opportunities to get points. With additional Korean tournaments this is no longer a problem. Adding more tournaments in Korea was always the only good solution, though most people didn't believe Blizzard would ever do that.
Well tbf it's not really Blizzard doing that. We have to thank SpoTV here more than Blizz.
What if in 2016 if this doesn't work for bolstering the skill level of the foreigners that they create a separate bracket for foreigners (kind of like a losers bracket) that will also award some money to the top foreigners.
On November 26 2014 07:31 Charoisaur wrote: Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
Well, you can't really force someone back to Korea if he has been living in EU/NA for more than 2 years. They got ridnof the "region hoppers", who just travelled to the offline section of the WCS tournaments and I think that's the right decision. Now there will only be players in WCS EU/NA who actually LIVE there for quite some time. And ofc you cannot force someone like Polt back to Korea, as he's studying in the USA xD He'll win everythig there now, most likely, which sucks, but he just cannot possibly go back to Korea.
On November 26 2014 11:32 SNSeigifried wrote: Anyone know when StarDust moved to EU ik he moved quite early there 0_0
Yeah, StarDust may qualify. Liquipedia has him joining mYi in May 2013, but he was on LighT since late 2012, and I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe in his Blizzcon preview?) that he moved to the U.S. when he was on LighT? I just don't know enough about him since he was pretty under the radar until he won that DreamHack in June 2013.
He was living with Xeris when he was on LighT and was in the US, as far as I can tell (Xeris thanked him for being an awesome roommate when LighT shut down (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/401909-light-closing-down), and ROOTCaliber said he would be living in the US in a similar arrangement to Golden (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/358461-m18m-now-sson-joins-light-esports?page=4#61).
On that basis, he was in the US from around September 2012 probably, and then was in Europe after that with mYi from May '13 or so. That should qualify him under the pre-Jan '13 requirement for living outside Korea, since even if he went back to Korea from March '13 to May '13, that shouldn't really be meaningful since he was outside Korea for 26 of 28 months worst-case. Only question is whether US vs Europe will count against him, but that would be harsh given it was due to his team shutting down, and the Europe and US WCS is now one.
On November 26 2014 11:32 SNSeigifried wrote: Anyone know when StarDust moved to EU ik he moved quite early there 0_0
Yeah, StarDust may qualify. Liquipedia has him joining mYi in May 2013, but he was on LighT since late 2012, and I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe in his Blizzcon preview?) that he moved to the U.S. when he was on LighT? I just don't know enough about him since he was pretty under the radar until he won that DreamHack in June 2013.
He was living with Xeris when he was on LighT and was in the US, as far as I can tell (Xeris thanked him for being an awesome roommate when LighT shut down (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/401909-light-closing-down), and ROOTCaliber said he would be living in the US in a similar arrangement to Golden (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/358461-m18m-now-sson-joins-light-esports?page=4#61).
On that basis, he was in the US from around September 2012 probably, and then was in Europe after that with mYi from May '13 or so. That should qualify him under the pre-Jan '13 requirement for living outside Korea, since even if he went back to Korea from March '13 to May '13, that shouldn't really be meaningful since he was outside Korea for 26 of 28 months worst-case.
The requirement isn't for "living outside Korea" though, it's "players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013." I don't know if hopping continents qualifies as "consistent residency in a region."
On November 26 2014 11:32 SNSeigifried wrote: Anyone know when StarDust moved to EU ik he moved quite early there 0_0
Yeah, StarDust may qualify. Liquipedia has him joining mYi in May 2013, but he was on LighT since late 2012, and I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe in his Blizzcon preview?) that he moved to the U.S. when he was on LighT? I just don't know enough about him since he was pretty under the radar until he won that DreamHack in June 2013.
He was living with Xeris when he was on LighT and was in the US, as far as I can tell (Xeris thanked him for being an awesome roommate when LighT shut down (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/401909-light-closing-down), and ROOTCaliber said he would be living in the US in a similar arrangement to Golden (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/358461-m18m-now-sson-joins-light-esports?page=4#61).
On that basis, he was in the US from around September 2012 probably, and then was in Europe after that with mYi from May '13 or so. That should qualify him under the pre-Jan '13 requirement for living outside Korea, since even if he went back to Korea from March '13 to May '13, that shouldn't really be meaningful since he was outside Korea for 26 of 28 months worst-case.
The requirement isn't for "living outside Korea" though, it's "players who can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013." I don't know if hopping continents qualifies as "consistent residency in a region."
Yes, I think too that Stardust doesn't meet the requirements because Blizzard probably considers AM and EU as two different regions.
He "hopped continent" because his team folded and then he found a new one. Pretty harsh if he gets fucked over because a team closed. Or was he supposed to get a new team only in the US?
He joined a team, stayed with it until it closed, then went to another team, and has remained with that team for the last 18 months. Hardly hopping. Not to mention, his first team closed a month before WCS was even announced. There was no "region" to be resident in.
On November 26 2014 18:08 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Proleague points was always an awful idea both from a logistical and egalitarian standpoint. The only reason people were suggesting it, was that top Proleague players just didn't have many opportunities to get points. With additional Korean tournaments this is no longer a problem. Adding more tournaments in Korea was always the only good solution, though most people didn't believe Blizzard would ever do that.
Well tbf it's not really Blizzard doing that. We have to thank SpoTV here more than Blizz.
Euh, to me it looks like Blizzard just took their money for korea and asked spotv to create a second league. GSL now gets less money and spotv gets what was left. I would say Blizzard pays all of that?!
On November 26 2014 18:08 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Proleague points was always an awful idea both from a logistical and egalitarian standpoint. The only reason people were suggesting it, was that top Proleague players just didn't have many opportunities to get points. With additional Korean tournaments this is no longer a problem. Adding more tournaments in Korea was always the only good solution, though most people didn't believe Blizzard would ever do that.
Well tbf it's not really Blizzard doing that. We have to thank SpoTV here more than Blizz.
Euh, to me it looks like Blizzard just took their money for korea and asked spotv to create a second league. GSL now gets less money and spotv gets what was left. I would say Blizzard pays all of that?!
Do we have the prize breakdown for both spotv and gsl yet? I wonder if you have to place in both leagues now to make as much money as before (say ro32/16) Or even qualifier
On November 26 2014 18:08 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Proleague points was always an awful idea both from a logistical and egalitarian standpoint. The only reason people were suggesting it, was that top Proleague players just didn't have many opportunities to get points. With additional Korean tournaments this is no longer a problem. Adding more tournaments in Korea was always the only good solution, though most people didn't believe Blizzard would ever do that.
Well tbf it's not really Blizzard doing that. We have to thank SpoTV here more than Blizz.
Euh, to me it looks like Blizzard just took their money for korea and asked spotv to create a second league. GSL now gets less money and spotv gets what was left. I would say Blizzard pays all of that?!
Hmm I hadn't considered that. It seems true.
I dont know who paid GSL before WCS, but since WCS 2013 (EU/US/KR) Blizzard pays everything (plus flights and accomodations). The main reason for that second tournament are wcs points for korea players that wont/dont/rarely go foreigner tournaments.
I definitely prefer two 25k tournaments than one 50k tournament.
A lot of points for the koreans.. <3 the Global Finals at BlizzCon was a bliss as there was 16 koreans and not a single foreigner thus ensuring the highest quality of games. I hope 2015 can be the same, whilst still having koreans fly all over the world and add quality to the tournaments.
On November 26 2014 07:31 Charoisaur wrote: Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
Well, you can't really force someone back to Korea if he has been living in EU/NA for more than 2 years. They got ridnof the "region hoppers", who just travelled to the offline section of the WCS tournaments and I think that's the right decision. Now there will only be players in WCS EU/NA who actually LIVE there for quite some time. And ofc you cannot force someone like Polt back to Korea, as he's studying in the USA xD He'll win everythig there now, most likely, which sucks, but he just cannot possibly go back to Korea.
That's true but it's still silly to have a tournament where the winner is already clear before the games are played. If it isn't possible to force all koreans back, they should have just kept the current system imo.
Edit: its also not very respectful to players like stardust, mc or jjakji who are equally well integrated in the european scene like forgg but dont fulfill the residency requirements. Will expect some retirements soon; don't know if this is good for the scene
Are u sure polt/forgg/stardust/violet are gonna win next season? They are favorites of course, but their win rate against foreigners is not 100%. I mean look at Taeja every WCS season...
Plus higher ranking for foreigners. Not winning, just placing higher. Snute for example, could have made Blizzcon this year.
On November 26 2014 07:31 Charoisaur wrote: Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
Well, you can't really force someone back to Korea if he has been living in EU/NA for more than 2 years. They got ridnof the "region hoppers", who just travelled to the offline section of the WCS tournaments and I think that's the right decision. Now there will only be players in WCS EU/NA who actually LIVE there for quite some time. And ofc you cannot force someone like Polt back to Korea, as he's studying in the USA xD He'll win everythig there now, most likely, which sucks, but he just cannot possibly go back to Korea.
That's true but it's still silly to have a tournament where the winner is already clear before the games are played. If it isn't possible to force all koreans back, they should have just kept the current system imo.
Edit: its also not very respectful to players like stardust, mc or jjakji who are equally well integrated in the european scene like forgg but dont fulfill the residency requirements. Will expect some retirements soon; don't know if this is good for the scene
Do you really think people like Polt, Violet or ForGG are unbeatable by foreigners? Because afaik people like Snute, Scarlett, Bunny, etc already beat these Koreans, and more than once
Due to the current off-season, these tournaments are allowed to choose their own map pool.
wait a second, does that mean ALL tournaments have to use the ladder mappool? makes me really sad tbh, especially korean tournaments (GSL and that SPOTV League) add their own maps sometimes, wich makes the meta even more interesting in high level games Because of that we got to see some cool maps like Daybreak or King sejong station. (sorry for bad english, i barely slept in the last few days)
On November 26 2014 07:31 Charoisaur wrote: Don't really like that certain koreans are allowed to participate in wcs premier league while others are not. I liked the system of this year with koreans integrating so well in the foreign scene although it was a bit unfortunate for the foreign players. The koreans being forced back to korea (with a far bigger scene than now) while having a full foreigner tournament would be quite okay too, but having a foreigner tournament with 2-3 koreans is dumb.
Well, you can't really force someone back to Korea if he has been living in EU/NA for more than 2 years. They got ridnof the "region hoppers", who just travelled to the offline section of the WCS tournaments and I think that's the right decision. Now there will only be players in WCS EU/NA who actually LIVE there for quite some time. And ofc you cannot force someone like Polt back to Korea, as he's studying in the USA xD He'll win everythig there now, most likely, which sucks, but he just cannot possibly go back to Korea.
That's true but it's still silly to have a tournament where the winner is already clear before the games are played. If it isn't possible to force all koreans back, they should have just kept the current system imo.
Edit: its also not very respectful to players like stardust, mc or jjakji who are equally well integrated in the european scene like forgg but dont fulfill the residency requirements. Will expect some retirements soon; don't know if this is good for the scene
Do you really think people like Polt, Violet or ForGG are unbeatable by foreigners? Because afaik people like Snute, Scarlett, Bunny, etc already beat these Koreans, and more than once
yep especially Major, can take out Polt
still gotta admit its easier for Polt and Co. than it was ever before
Due to the current off-season, these tournaments are allowed to choose their own map pool.
wait a second, does that mean ALL tournaments have to use the ladder mappool? makes me really sad tbh, especially korean tournaments (GSL and that SPOTV League) add their own maps sometimes, wich makes the meta even more interesting in high level games Because of that we got to see some cool maps like Daybreak or King sejong station. (sorry for bad english, i barely slept in the last few days)
All tournaments which want to give WCS points to the players. So yes GSL and the SpoTV thing have to use the WCS map pool. Proleague will probably still have some independent maps though
Latin America generally refers to all parts of the Americas where romance languages are the primary official language. So basically everything except Canada and the USA.
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