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Hi, first of all I apologize for my bad grammar, english isn't my first language.
You may have noticed that this first season of WCS has a few organisation issues. I tried to reach out Blizzard but the only answer I received is : Soon(TM).
Here are the issues with WCS 2015 :
- 1. What are the rules ? Blizzard did not release the 2015 WCS Player Handbook. The last update of the 2014 WCS Player Handbook was last updated: March 7, 2014 : https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/5WJHXI5A98CS1394665510029.pdf
As you know, WCS 2015 doesn't follow the same organisation as the WCS 2014. According to this document there is no NSSL and NASL is still producing WCS North America. This is obviously false but there is no official rules for 2015. That's just a recipe for problems for tournament organisers.
- 2. What are the schedules ? The challenger league is supposed to be played next week but we still don't know when it will be played exactly. Check Liquipedia, check the WCS official website, check ESL.com, you won't find anything. At the moment we don't know anything about the schedules of this season of WCS outside of Korea. Liquipedia says that this seasons ends in 2015... That cool to know I guess. This raises two problems : How does Blizzard (and the ESL) expect people to watch their game if they release the schedules a couple hours before the event ? How does Blizzard expect tournament organizers to plan an event if they don't know when the WCS games will be played (reminder that non-WCS sc2 event are forbiden to overlap with WCS)
- 3. How does the format work (1)? The format of WCS has been changed in 2015 too. The problem is that without any official rules, players are still following the outdated 2014 Player Handbook. Without new rules, seeds where made based on the player's 2014 WCS point eventhough many of them don't have any WCS points. How do they seed players from Latin America, Oceania & SEA, Taiwan, HK & Macau ? I guess they could just say "lol they are all trash xDDD they don't need seeds". I don't know most of these players and it would be sad for the players and the viewers if some of their best players were eliminated from WCS because of bad seeding while lesser player access the premier league thanks the lack of seeds.
- 4. How does the format work (2)? It's a huge cluster fuck. Blizzard only talks about casual players but damn, look at this format : http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2015_WCS_Season_1 If changing the map pool regularly is too confusing for the new comers, this format will send the to the hospital.
Additional question : were the groups really released on an excel spreadsheet screenshot posted on a random TL thread? LANs in my area have cooler way to announce the groups...
- 5. What is blizzard's esport team doing ? Pictures and waiting screens for WCS 2015 haven't been released yet. Popular companies like TaKeTV are forced to use the WCS 2014 waiting screen : http://i.imgur.com/kdh39gE.png
- 6. What is the map pool ? The new pool has been released on the ladder this week. This new map pool was released too late and the players had to qualifiy on an outdated map pool (2014 season's 3 map pool). I thought that Blizzard didn't want two separate map pool between the ladder and the WCS because it would be confusing for the casuals :^)
Seriously, is the Starcraft 2 department at Blizzard's HQ still being used to improve the game or are they using it to store the cash they make with HearthStone ?
This is highly unprofessional from Blizzard. I mean, it’s not that difficult to produce waiting screens but nothing and WCS Challenger League already started (in china). A lot of people are pissed with the dead game jokes but this lack of activity from Blizzard isn't doing any good for the game and its public image. The excuse "just wait for LotV guys, buy it and you'll see lol" doesn't work there, good organisation doesn't wait. No one asks for a LCS-like production but at least don't let us become the laughingstock of esport.
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Bisutopia19299 Posts
All your points are valid. Unfortunately, no one here can answer any of your questions without speculation.
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Well since some players got sentenced according to the rules of the 2014 Handbook I guess it is de facto the 2015 Handbook.
edit : but yeah these are valid points. You could also add the fact that GOM is not offering free 720p and is using a map pool that differs from the ladder too.
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Local Local Area Network in my area
hehehe
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Yeah, lots of legit concerns here. I hope everything gets clarified quickly.
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At this time, WCS just does not give the impression of a Premier tournament. It is treated like yet another tournament, WCS needs to be THE thing
BTW, Blizzard please, just set a fixed broadcast schedule for WCS like the Korean leagues.
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Although it is wrong for us to just assume that it's blizzard's fault for not doing everything correcting -- someone else could be the troublemaker here-- it is equally wrong for blizzard to expect good opinion of itself when it doesn't communicate to the community to make things clear.
It is unprofessional of them to not make things crystal clear for something complicated organize as WCS. I wonder what they're thinking. Everyone knows that being half-assed is a recipe for failure.
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On January 18 2015 00:44 algue wrote:
[*] 3. How does the format work (1)? The format of WCS has been changed in 2015 too. The problem is that without any official rules, players are still following the outdated 2014 Player Handbook. Without new rules, seeds where made based on the player's 2014 WCS point eventhough many of them don't have any WCS points. How do they seed players from Latin America, Oceania & SEA, Taiwan, HK & Macau ? I guess they could just say "lol they are all trash xDDD they don't need seeds". I don't know most of these players and it would be sad for the players and the viewers if some of their best players were eliminated from WCS because of bad seeding while lesser player access the premier league thanks the lack of seeds.
Maybe I'm just missing something, but what does this mean? This season of WCS doesn't use seeds, everything is done through qualifiers. Are you talking about seeds to determine who the players match up against in Challenger? If so, has Blizzard ever indicated that there will be seeds? It may be sad if two top players end up matched against each other, but it's part of the nature of this "hard reset" season that some top players will fail to make it to the main tournaments, we've already seen this in Korea with Zest, soO, sOs, many others.
I do think the map pool confusion is unfortunate but most of your other points seem very nitpicky to me. So yeah, the rulebook references NASL and doesn't reference SSL. Does that really matter? It would be nice to get things like updated loading screens but I really don't see how these minor deals could make SC2 the "laughingstock of esports."
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great points made in this thread.
The Devil Is In The Details.. as they say.
On January 18 2015 00:44 algue wrote:
This is highly unprofessional from Blizzard.
James Naismith did a great job inventing basketball.. this does not mean his family knows how to run the NBA.
Blizzard needs to let someone else run the entire WCS. They don't have the time or expertise.
I think Blizzard should scrap the WCS
OR
dip into the vault of cash they have and pay someone like MLG or ESL or some other experienced organization to run the entire thing.
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"Blizzard only talks about casual players but damn, look at this format : (Wiki)2015_WCS_Season_1 If changing the map pool regularly is too confusing for the new comers, this format will send the to the hospital."
I think that Blizzard's esports team is all noob. So all of them are at hospital and thats why theres no progress.
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The points i dont get:
Missing pictures, banners and overlays.
Missing Handbook for players and WCS Tier 1-3 Tournaments (as I know)
A serious missing mappool (now solved, but so late, that GSL uses now a different mappool.
GSL Stream issue
What i know: All P. League Groups will be played offline in Burbank and Cologne. ESL/Blizzard pays for tickets and hotels, Americans gonna play in Burbank, Europeens in Cologne. SEA, Latinamerika, PRC and RoC gonna be send at Burbank or Cologne to get the full 4 Groups in each Studio. The format is not that complicatet: Regional Qualifiers. Regional Challanger. Offline Ro 32 in either Burbank for 4 Groups or Cologne for the other 4 groups. Offline Ro 16 in one of the 2 studios. Offline finals in one of the 2 studios. Lots of money.
Schedules where allways been announced late last season. The season will finish arround 2-3 weaks after NSSL and GSL finished (as last season). Season 2 should start alot less rough and with a faster published (and better) mappool.
As I know the mappool will be from Ro32 the new Mappool.
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The big pessimistic realist in me says that Blizzard has completely stopped trying with anything HotS and is praying LotV saves the game because they really dont know what the fuck they're doing.
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On January 18 2015 05:24 Clonester wrote:
The points i dont get:
Missing pictures, banners and overlays.
Missing Handbook for players and WCS Tier 1-3 Tournaments (as I know)
A serious missing mappool (now solved, but so late, that GSL uses now a different mappool.
GSL Stream issue
What i know: All P. League Groups will be played offline in Burbank and Cologne. ESL/Blizzard pays for tickets and hotels, Americans gonna play in Burbank, Europeens in Cologne. SEA, Latinamerika, PRC and RoC gonna be send at Burbank or Cologne to get the full 4 Groups in each Studio. The format is not that complicatet: Regional Qualifiers. Regional Challanger. Offline Ro 32 in either Burbank for 4 Groups or Cologne for the other 4 groups. Offline Ro 16 in one of the 2 studios. Offline finals in one of the 2 studios. Lots of money.
Schedules where allways been announced late last season. The season will finish arround 2-3 weaks after NSSL and GSL finished (as last season). Season 2 should start alot less rough and with a faster published (and better) mappool.
As I know the mappool will be from Ro32 the new Mappool.
This is a huge issue for tournament organizers.
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What Im really concerned with is that their esport portal wcs.battle.net where several times stating the wrong dates and times for matches. For people using that as their main portal it gives quite a bad impression of the WCS in general. Sure most people use Liquidpedia but you´d think that atleast their main portal of WCS would be correct :/.
Some sweet content that wraps up the 2014 season would also be great. To get you all excited since last Blizzcon finals really smashed viewership numbers and live audience. Would love to see more efforts from the esport team on their side.
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u have to realize blizzard isnt some huge corporation with lots of money; they cant just throw away .05% of their fortune at hiring some talented professionals to come and work on issues like these. they have to make a living. their CEO's and VP's are LITERALLY buying the lower end of jets and yachts.. think of that. think of their families. and you expect them to just go out of their way and focus on their product, finish things that they started, like some fuckin competent person? disgusting!!
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On January 18 2015 07:23 sc2chronic wrote:
u have to realize blizzard isnt some huge corporation with lots of money; they cant just throw away .05% of their fortune at hiring some talented professionals to come and work on issues like these. they have to make a living. their CEO's and VP's are LITERALLY buying the lower end of jets and yachts.. think of that. think of their families. and you expect them to just go out of their way and focus on their product, finish things that they started, like some fuckin competent person? disgusting!!
Isn't there a genius employee where earns $55Mio yearly at Blizzard?
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Russian Federation195 Posts
Pictures and waiting screens for WCS 2015 haven't been released yet. Popular companies like TaKeTV are forced to use the WCS 2014 waiting screen : http://i.imgur.com/kdh39gE.png
actually all the graphics was given to casters in .psd format, so popular companies like TaKeTV are free to use photoshop to change the nubmer
+ Show Spoiler +they are also free not to puke into the bag on their popular stream
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I think blizzard is starting to realize that they are just doing charity work with WCS. It does not drive sales and certainly has not helped grow the scene at all(the proof is that more and more players keep quitting and viewership is dropping as well).
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On January 18 2015 07:34 ReachTheSky wrote:
I think blizzard is starting to realize that they are just doing charity work with WCS. It does not drive sales and certainly has not helped grow the scene at all(the proof is that more and more players keep quitting and viewership is dropping as well).
They've realized this long ago.
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On January 18 2015 07:34 ReachTheSky wrote:
I think blizzard is starting to realize that they are just doing charity work with WCS. It does not drive sales and certainly has not helped grow the scene at all(the proof is that more and more players keep quitting and viewership is dropping as well).
How do you know any of that? What if WCS made people engaged to sc2 until LOTV, helping its sales then? Viewership is actually growing back now (or at least it is steady) http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/475208-top-100-streamers-of-2014-top-50-of-december
Said that, Blizzard could definitely have done a better job with WCS
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I think OP should copy and paste this on official forum too.
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On January 18 2015 01:13 ivancype wrote:
At this time, WCS just does not give the impression of a Premier tournament. It is treated like yet another tournament, WCS needs to be THE thing
BTW, Blizzard please, just set a fixed broadcast schedule for WCS like the Korean leagues.
WCS compared to LCS is like comparing a Corolla to a Mercedes E300. There is no comparison. 2014 WCS ended very well in terms of production quality but overall it was missing something. It didn't feel as important. It was just another long tournament.
Edit: Finishing sentence.
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On January 18 2015 08:43 geokilla wrote:Show nested quote +On January 18 2015 01:13 ivancype wrote:
At this time, WCS just does not give the impression of a Premier tournament. It is treated like yet another tournament, WCS needs to be THE thing
BTW, Blizzard please, just set a fixed broadcast schedule for WCS like the Korean leagues. WCS compared to LCS is like comparing a Corolla. There is no comparison. 2014 WCS ended very well in terms of production quality but overall it was missing something. It didn't feel as important. It was just another long tournament.
I think holding the finals in the studio hurt the the feeling of WCS a lot. I'm very happy we will have season finals at a real venue this year  .
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On January 18 2015 07:34 ReachTheSky wrote:
I think blizzard is starting to realize that they are just doing charity work with WCS. It does not drive sales and certainly has not helped grow the scene at all(the proof is that more and more players keep quitting and viewership is dropping as well).
I quit a year ago simply because I lost the faith in Blizzard's ability to make SC2 the great game it always deserved to be. They really succeeded in making the game play itself awesome, but failed in many other aspects including the WCS.
I mean I never received better experience watching tournies after WCS. People will eventually lose interest in watching if they find tournaments worse than before.
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On January 18 2015 05:34 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:
The big pessimistic realist in me says that Blizzard has completely stopped trying with anything HotS and is praying LotV saves the game because they really dont know what the fuck they're doing.
I think you're close but a bit off: Blizzard also didn't give much of a shit about the scene when WoL was dying out, and suddenly pumped money into it for HotS. The same thing is happening now, so we can expect one last hurrah the year LotV comes out, and then it will be all Heroes, the game Blizz expects to really milk. Blizzard is a business and not the paragon of esports promotion, for better or worse. And they won't even think about an SC3 until WC4 stops pulling in money, that is if WC4 ever happens. So enjoy reasonable search times on ladder while they last.
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On January 18 2015 09:01 Musicus wrote:Show nested quote +On January 18 2015 08:43 geokilla wrote:On January 18 2015 01:13 ivancype wrote:
At this time, WCS just does not give the impression of a Premier tournament. It is treated like yet another tournament, WCS needs to be THE thing
BTW, Blizzard please, just set a fixed broadcast schedule for WCS like the Korean leagues. WCS compared to LCS is like comparing a Corolla. There is no comparison. 2014 WCS ended very well in terms of production quality but overall it was missing something. It didn't feel as important. It was just another long tournament. I think holding the finals in the studio hurt the the feeling of WCS a lot. I'm very happy we will have season finals at a real venue this year .
Yes! Finals in studio is such a turn off. Good thing they are changing it this year. I would like to see one season finals in Canada, 1 in France and another in one of the other WCS regions
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Russian Federation195 Posts
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On January 18 2015 08:43 geokilla wrote:
WCS compared to LCS is like comparing a Corolla to a Mercedes E300. There is no comparison. 2014 WCS ended very well in terms of production quality but overall it was missing something. It didn't feel as important. It was just another long tournament.
Edit: Finishing sentence.
Symptoms of the "deadgaem" : anticipation of an upcoming expansion to revolutionize the way the game is played and render current status quo totally obsolete. It's like a depression phase hitting the fan base for obvious reasons. I hope Blizzard do their part of maintaining the WCS for 2015 still though and help us get through the terminal stages of HoTS
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EPT
