With the BlizzCon 2019 announcement now out in the world, we wanted to give a few more details about the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) Global Finals!
BlizzCon Opening Week
Opening Week, as usual, will see the Top 8 point-earners from both the WCS Circuit and WCS Korea fight it out to make the overall WCS Top 8. We will share more regarding the epic finale of WCS 2019 soon, but wanted to let fans know that this year StarCraft II’s Opening Week will not take place at Blizzard Arena. This year, Opening Week will be hosted somewhere quite different. Keep an eye on @esportstarcraft for updates—we think it’s very exciting and can’t wait to share it with you!
BlizzCon in Anaheim, California
The WCS Top 8 is back in the Arena for BlizzCon 2019! The Top 8 will be played out in its entirety on day one of BlizzCon, including the WCS Global Finals.
Last year, the WCS Global Finals concluded in historic fashion with Joona “Serral” Sotala’s win, an unforgettable moment for everyone who witnessed, whether in-person or online. With all the up-and-coming young talent mixed with seasoned veterans in 2019, we know the conclusion of this year’s chapter is slated to be just as epic. We can’t wait to see you all live or in the chat for the WCS Top 8 and the WCS Global Finals!
I don't know if I am missing something, but this seems ok for me. SC2 gets back to the Arena, instead of having its own separated space. The R08 and onwards played out entirely on day 1 is probably a step back, but it actually may make the timing better for us europeans.
6 Bo5's and the Bo7 Finals in one day could be a scheduling nightmare if any technical issues arise. Event would need to start very early in the morning to get it all in within say 12-14 hours.
Playing out the complete ro8 in ONE day is just that kind of idea you'd expect from blizzard. Seems as clever as announcing a diablo-franchise game for mobile devices...
What a horrible idea. Players are supposed to do two Bo5's and then a Bo7 to finish it off? What is Blizzard thinking?! How is this supposed to give us good games? It should go in the opposite direction if anything.
All the details haven't been released but from what we know I think this sounds pretty bad. Rather have the sidearena but properly spaced out matches.
Likelihood of good casting is educed since it goes on for so long, especially the finals risk being bad with everyone tired out, players are in the same boat which means we might see "bad" games with casters that are exhaused and off kilter.
Yay, blizzcon starcraft 2 finals! Blizzard: Lets get it over with.
Opening groups not being at location doesn't matter much for me as long as the production is good but its likely a trade down since all the changing seems to be about getting it done fast and cheap. They are hyping it up as an improvement, I really hope it is because otherwise hyping fans up just to shit on them is never a good idea.
"We have time super awesome new thing coming guys, you should be really hype for this" - Release change for the worse What do they expect? Would have been better if they were just upfront about it being a downgrade.
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?"
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament.
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?!
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied.
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
On April 26 2019 06:42 Xamo wrote: I don't know if I am missing something, but this seems ok for me. SC2 gets back to the Arena, instead of having its own separated space. The R08 and onwards played out entirely on day 1 is probably a step back, but it actually may make the timing better for us europeans.
More likely its worse for us. There will be delays, there are always delays.
Personally I like this format quite a bit. And most importantly we should all be thankful that Blizzard continues to back this game at all, 9 years after it was initially launched.
I hope we get all of the matches on stage, I would not be surprise if it's 2 stream like in 2013. Still having the arena is great, I hope we get that freaking giant stage back, maybe the best stage I ever saw.
I don't mind having all the playoff matches in 1 day, it's the standar WCS systems and it has produce some hype event with good viership.
I know it's not always ideal, but it's gonna mean less talkcraft and having a day with only the semi and the finals can be a bit anticlimactic and it can also lead to lower viership and in place fans, I think IEM Katowice suffer from that sometime. Having it all in day almost garantee us to be closing the day, while having it in 2 would probably mean playing the finals earlier with OW getting the big part of the stick.
Edit: I was under the impression they meant the "Blizzard arena" aka the place where it was played in 2014-15 and 16 and where the OW WC take place. Am I getting things mixed up?
The group stage is only being streamed so where it is hosted doesn't even matter. No audiences regardless. Last year it was hosted at Blizzard Arena. However, they said the playoff will be hosted at Arena. Do they mean Blizzard Arena or Anaheim Convention Center? The playoff has been always on stage at Anaheim Convention Center along with the rest of BlizzCon. If they downgrade it to Blizzard Arena then it is certainly disappointing. I heard Arena is a nice studio but certainly not as big as whichever hall is in Anaheim Convention Center.
On April 26 2019 06:46 Chris_Havoc wrote: 6 Bo5's and the Bo7 Finals in one day could be a scheduling nightmare if any technical issues arise. Event would need to start very early in the morning to get it all in within say 12-14 hours.
Indeed.
4 for the round of eight, 2 for the round of four and one best of seven.... Unless they all end up in sweeps it'll be too painful of a marathon run to even contemplate hype. Not a decision I like at all. Its bad enough we're the tiny old uncle compared to Overwatch in terms of viewership, but now they're not giving us the time to put up a decent tournament.
one best of 5 would if done via sweep clock into around 45-50 minutes with a break or two perhaps and assuming there's no early do or die bust cheese and it'd probably clock an hour or more if it goes the full way. A best of 7 no matter how fast it goes will definitely go over the hour, perhaps even 2 if it hits the full 4:3 score. thats looking at a max time of perhaps 8 hours of continued game time, adding an hour with breaks to hit 9 hours of continued sc2 (which could hit longer depending on the games and the match outcomes).
Blizzcon isn't the super tournament, we shouldn't have to grind 4-5 best of fives on the biggest stage of the year.
On April 26 2019 06:46 Chris_Havoc wrote: 6 Bo5's and the Bo7 Finals in one day could be a scheduling nightmare if any technical issues arise. Event would need to start very early in the morning to get it all in within say 12-14 hours.
Indeed.
4 for the round of eight, 2 for the round of four and one best of seven.... Unless they all end up in sweeps it'll be too painful of a marathon run to even contemplate hype. Not a decision I like at all. Its bad enough we're the tiny old uncle compared to Overwatch in terms of viewership, but now they're not giving us the time to put up a decent tournament.
one best of 5 would if done via sweep clock into around 45-50 minutes with a break or two perhaps and assuming there's no early do or die bust cheese and it'd probably clock an hour or more if it goes the full way. A best of 7 no matter how fast it goes will definitely go over the hour, perhaps even 2 if it hits the full 4:3 score. thats looking at a max time of perhaps 8 hours of continued game time, adding an hour with breaks to hit 9 hours of continued sc2 (which could hit longer depending on the games and the match outcomes).
Blizzcon isn't the super tournament, we shouldn't have to grind 4-5 best of fives on the biggest stage of the year.
Could be 2 stream for the round of 8, but honestly I think the WCS are generaly hype enough and those have the same number of matches. May not be ideal but it's certainly not catastrophic IMO, especially if it mean we don't have to compete vs OW.
you can talk all you want about how it's a "bad decision" but the reality no one wants to accept is that Blizzard just thinks there are better uses of time than maximizing the quality of the SC2 finals. doesn't mean dedgaem, it means exactly what it means, take it or leave it
thinking about the 'prestige' of hall vs arena is a really bad case of missing the forest while looking at a tree; the cutdown to one day is an enormous, impactful change to the competitive and viewer side of the tournament. To be fair, RO8-> Finals in one day is how WCS Circuit tournaments have been done, and while they're a bit of marathon, it's doable within reasonable-ish time (if you think 6~8 hours is reasonable). But it's definitely a meaningful change to how the Global Finals has been run previously, and very different from how any Korean tournament is run.
So even if the matches start at 9 AM PDT, with 1.5 hours per Bo5, the finals are going to start no earlier than 3 AM in Europe. Not the best way to increase viewership. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that this is intentional, so that Blizzard can justify cutting WCS by pointing to the lowered viewership.
Wait, what? At first I thought they're talking about the Ro8 only. So Ro4 is played the day after but now I get it, they want to play out all the remaining matches on this day. That sucks.
Edit: Not surprised to be honest, as some of us already suggested this might be last year of SC2/WCS ever.
If you look around every big game for them has its own day this BlizzCon so I have no idea why ppl things that SC2 is so priviledged to have 2 days...
Whole BlizzCon schedule is being changed so... just roll with it. I wouldn't be suprised if they shut it down after 9 years, but also i would not be suprised if they shut it down because they never got positive feedback in 9 years...
Opening Week, as usual, will see the Top 8 point-earners from both the WCS Circuit and WCS Korea fight it out to make the overall WCS Top 8. We will share more regarding the epic finale of WCS 2019 soon, but wanted to let fans know that this year StarCraft II’s Opening Week will not take place at Blizzard Arena. This year, Opening Week will be hosted somewhere quite different. Keep an eye on @esportstarcraft for updates—we think it’s very exciting and can’t wait to share it with you!
This is good, it can't be more soulless than that no audience studio they had last few years. Though maybe it'll be something gimmicky like spacex headquarters or something.
Alternatively they should host it on the place on earth that has europeans and koreans have exactly the same amount of timezone issues so we can finally put jetlag argument to bed.
On April 26 2019 12:46 Solar424 wrote: So even if the matches start at 9 AM PDT, with 1.5 hours per Bo5, the finals are going to start no earlier than 3 AM in Europe. Not the best way to increase viewership. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that this is intentional, so that Blizzard can justify cutting WCS by pointing to the lowered viewership.
Ah, that's the math then, so I'm skipping it. No chance I'm watching Blizzcon this late.
On April 26 2019 12:46 Solar424 wrote: So even if the matches start at 9 AM PDT, with 1.5 hours per Bo5, the finals are going to start no earlier than 3 AM in Europe. Not the best way to increase viewership. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that this is intentional, so that Blizzard can justify cutting WCS by pointing to the lowered viewership.
Ah, that's the math then, so I'm skipping it. No chance I'm watching Blizzcon this late.
Wouldn't be suprised if they'd actually play 2 games at once in the Ro8. Saves them a couple of hours.
On April 26 2019 12:46 Solar424 wrote: So even if the matches start at 9 AM PDT, with 1.5 hours per Bo5, the finals are going to start no earlier than 3 AM in Europe. Not the best way to increase viewership. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that this is intentional, so that Blizzard can justify cutting WCS by pointing to the lowered viewership.
Ah, that's the math then, so I'm skipping it. No chance I'm watching Blizzcon this late.
Wouldn't be suprised if they'd actually play 2 games at once in the Ro8. Saves them a couple of hours.
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?"
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament.
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?!
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied.
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Hope it's not the last blizzcon for sc2 but they don't improve quality of the global final. Plus it's sad to see how they try to sell us these kind of changes like improvements...
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?" Won't feel quick if the games are tight and go to ace matches
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament Way more games are played in one day trying to get to the bracket stage in IEM. In a round of 8 you only play three players if you make it through the finals. That's nothing compared to the ladder practice. And there is a ton of break time between matches (plus stream delays lol)
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament. It's no different then MLG/Dreamhack/IEM in terms of audience stamina. If you love SC2 this will just be purely a fun day. Pace yourself and don't start the day chugging the free energy drinks :D
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?! Honestly, sometimes I hate when it's just the finals on the next day. Waiting nearly 24 hrs for a possible 4-0. I also think momentum plays a huge factor. And sometimes sleeping off a good day makes you lose your edge.
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied. I think this is a baseless statement. I'm almost never dissatisfied with a day of non stop SC1 or SC2
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?" Won't feel quick if the games are tight and go to ace matches
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament Way more games are played in one day trying to get to the bracket stage in IEM. In a round of 8 you only play three players if you make it through the finals. That's nothing compared to the ladder practice. And there is a ton of break time between matches (plus stream delays lol)
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament. It's no different then MLG/Dreamhack/IEM in terms of audience stamina. If you love SC2 this will just be purely a fun day. Pace yourself and don't start the day chugging the free energy drinks :D
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?! Honestly, sometimes I hate when it's just the finals on the next day. Waiting nearly 24 hrs for a possible 4-0. I also think momentum plays a huge factor. And sometimes sleeping off a good day makes you lose your edge.
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied. I think this is a baseless statement. I'm almost never dissatisfied with a day of non stop SC1 or SC2
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
The format would be fine for a saturday IMO, if it's truly Friday, RIP.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
On April 26 2019 22:20 BisuDagger wrote: Here's my positive perspective:
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?" Won't feel quick if the games are tight and go to ace matches
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament Way more games are played in one day trying to get to the bracket stage in IEM. In a round of 8 you only play three players if you make it through the finals. That's nothing compared to the ladder practice. And there is a ton of break time between matches (plus stream delays lol)
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament. It's no different then MLG/Dreamhack/IEM in terms of audience stamina. If you love SC2 this will just be purely a fun day. Pace yourself and don't start the day chugging the free energy drinks :D
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?! Honestly, sometimes I hate when it's just the finals on the next day. Waiting nearly 24 hrs for a possible 4-0. I also think momentum plays a huge factor. And sometimes sleeping off a good day makes you lose your edge.
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied. I think this is a baseless statement. I'm almost never dissatisfied with a day of non stop SC1 or SC2
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
The format would be fine for a saturday IMO, if it's truly Friday, RIP.
On April 26 2019 22:20 BisuDagger wrote: Here's my positive perspective:
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?" Won't feel quick if the games are tight and go to ace matches
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament Way more games are played in one day trying to get to the bracket stage in IEM. In a round of 8 you only play three players if you make it through the finals. That's nothing compared to the ladder practice. And there is a ton of break time between matches (plus stream delays lol)
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament. It's no different then MLG/Dreamhack/IEM in terms of audience stamina. If you love SC2 this will just be purely a fun day. Pace yourself and don't start the day chugging the free energy drinks :D
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?! Honestly, sometimes I hate when it's just the finals on the next day. Waiting nearly 24 hrs for a possible 4-0. I also think momentum plays a huge factor. And sometimes sleeping off a good day makes you lose your edge.
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied. I think this is a baseless statement. I'm almost never dissatisfied with a day of non stop SC1 or SC2
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
The format would be fine for a saturday IMO, if it's truly Friday, RIP.
Is it really a Friday ?? Really ?
Just realised this as well. Blizzcon is November 1st and 2nd. 1st is a Friday. Day one (as stated in the topic) would indeed be Friday.... FU Blizz
EDIT: And then I realised November first is a holiday.... WHOOOOOP LOVE IT <3 GERMANY RULEZ
On April 26 2019 22:20 BisuDagger wrote: Here's my positive perspective:
On April 26 2019 09:13 NinjaNight wrote: Being all in one day...
1) Takes away from the tension and hype of the tournament for the viewers. It finishes so quick and everyone is like "thats it?" Won't feel quick if the games are tight and go to ace matches
2) Very tiring for the players leading to lower quality games and cheapens the tournament Way more games are played in one day trying to get to the bracket stage in IEM. In a round of 8 you only play three players if you make it through the finals. That's nothing compared to the ladder practice. And there is a ton of break time between matches (plus stream delays lol)
3) Drains the audience because everything is crammed into one very long day. Doesn't feel like an actual tournament. It's no different then MLG/Dreamhack/IEM in terms of audience stamina. If you love SC2 this will just be purely a fun day. Pace yourself and don't start the day chugging the free energy drinks :D
4) There's no real build up to and no anticipation for the finals because it feels like a normal day 1 of a tournament and regular matches are going by one by one relentlessly until suddenly it's the finals already! A finals on day 1?! Honestly, sometimes I hate when it's just the finals on the next day. Waiting nearly 24 hrs for a possible 4-0. I also think momentum plays a huge factor. And sometimes sleeping off a good day makes you lose your edge.
5) Most of the viewers will probably be left unsatisfied. I think this is a baseless statement. I'm almost never dissatisfied with a day of non stop SC1 or SC2
Conclusion: Just spread out the tournament over more than one day. Even just two days would make a large difference if you really need to cram it.
We'll see if a one day tournament turns out to be better than expected, but this seems to be how it would go. I don't see how this could possibly hope to live up to last year's Blizzcon.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm super excited to see this format. And every year Blizzcon seems to deliver in it's own unique way, so I wouldn't try to base your enjoyment of this year on last years Blizzcon.
The format would be fine for a saturday IMO, if it's truly Friday, RIP.
Is it really a Friday ?? Really ?
Just realised this as well. Blizzcon is November 1st and 2nd. 1st is a Friday. Day one (as stated in the topic) would indeed be Friday.... FU Blizz
EDIT: And then I realised November first is a holiday.... WHOOOOOP LOVE IT <3 GERMANY RULEZ
That's right holidays to in France (for civil-servants at least). Finally a good new!
On April 26 2019 11:11 burnturn wrote: Maybe getting the big stage back will make sOs win again.
First he should worry about qualifying.
I dunno about having everything in one day. I mean I'm used to watching the grand finals of Blizzcon for SC2 at like 2 am. But with delays and everything accounted for, if there's only 1 match at any given time I can probably wake up to watch the finals at 8 am.
On April 27 2019 00:17 Popparockz wrote: Why would they cram so much into the first day? The finals was crazy successful last year so I can't imagine what would bring on this change.
They cannot rely on having a foreigner in there. Consider the fact that SC2 @ Blizzcon isn't watched only by SC2 people as Blizzcon is not only about SC2 finals.
I don't know why they're doing this, doesn't make any sense, but Blizzard doesn't make any sense from the Diablo session at the last Blizzcon, so what do we actually expect?
On April 26 2019 06:42 Xamo wrote: I don't know if I am missing something, but this seems ok for me. SC2 gets back to the Arena, instead of having its own separated space. The R08 and onwards played out entirely on day 1 is probably a step back, but it actually may make the timing better for us europeans.
More likely its worse for us. There will be delays, there are always delays.
Maybe is not so bad for Spain but for Finland :D
That friday is holiday in Spain and in Germany. I had assumed it was in the whole continent... my bad.
On April 26 2019 06:42 Xamo wrote: I don't know if I am missing something, but this seems ok for me. SC2 gets back to the Arena, instead of having its own separated space. The R08 and onwards played out entirely on day 1 is probably a step back, but it actually may make the timing better for us europeans.
More likely its worse for us. There will be delays, there are always delays.
Maybe is not so bad for Spain but for Finland :D
That friday is holiday in Spain and in Germany. I had assumed it was in the whole continent... my bad.
Edit: It is holiday also in France
November 1st not even a holiday for the majority of Germany.
The matches will be long, the players might be too tired to play well by the time the finals start, and the audience will probably be burnt out by the time the finals start. BUT -- do you guys not have phones twitch vods?
everything up to the final will be BO3 and final BO5. Done. Because that's the way it's heading. It's sad to see how the game is spiraling down, especially now when there's no Mike to protect it. Corporate will run wild. WCS will be next on the chopping block when suits decide to cut costs
To be honest most sc2 series at least on the top level are over pretty quickly. TvP, PvZ, and PvP are especially quick. Only TvZ tends to have long games.
Even if a lot of tournaments are 8 hour days and 1/2 to 2/3 of that is downtime. There pretty much won't be any in this format else the event would be too long. IEM Katowice played 8 bo5s in a day and it took 11+ hours iirc.
But I will say that having the biggest event of the year over in a day is pretty anti hype. Compared to other esports at least.
On April 26 2019 06:42 Xamo wrote: I don't know if I am missing something, but this seems ok for me. SC2 gets back to the Arena, instead of having its own separated space. The R08 and onwards played out entirely on day 1 is probably a step back, but it actually may make the timing better for us europeans.
More likely its worse for us. There will be delays, there are always delays.
Maybe is not so bad for Spain but for Finland :D
That friday is holiday in Spain and in Germany. I had assumed it was in the whole continent... my bad.
Edit: It is holiday also in France
Well for most EU country the match are gonna be during of hours right? The first round of 8 matches probably won't but they were always on Friday anyway. But if the lasts few matches run late it's gonna be super late for you guys.
Also it's cruel twist of fate, that of all the tradition at Blizzard runing an event on a friday is the one that stayed.
Top 8 in one day has been done before. WCS Montreal 2018 pulled it off. The last day was longer but it was still pretty fun. I believe the whole day lasted approximately 10 hours. (This was the Serral Reynor 7 game finale)
As someone who sat through IPL 4 and 5, those were miserable viewing experiences... literally like 12 hours of SC2 crammed into one day especially the final day of IPL4
On May 04 2019 15:46 asongdotnet wrote: As someone who sat through IPL 4 and 5, those were miserable viewing experiences... literally like 12 hours of SC2 crammed into one day especially the final day of IPL4
The difference is that those tournaments needed to have 12 hour days because they were 70+ players in a double elimination bracket. Blizzcon is an 8 player single elimination bracket, there’s no reason to cram it all into one day.
To be clear, if one buys a Blizzcon ticket - then the only day that ANY starcraft will be played is the first day - October 25? And from October 26 to November 2nd, there will be no starcraft played?
I am just wondering if I am gathering this correctly. I was going to buy a Blizzcon ticket but cannot attend the first day, so if the above is correct then its pointless for me to buy a Blizzcon ticket at all? (Assuming I wan to see Starcraft being played).
On September 24 2019 07:25 LoganJames1 wrote: To be clear, if one buys a Blizzcon ticket - then the only day that ANY starcraft will be played is the first day - October 25? And from October 26 to November 2nd, there will be no starcraft played?
I am just wondering if I am gathering this correctly. I was going to buy a Blizzcon ticket but cannot attend the first day, so if the above is correct then its pointless for me to buy a Blizzcon ticket at all? (Assuming I wan to see Starcraft being played).
Friend, Blizzcon goes on for a weekend, and not an entire week (11/1-11/2 instead of 10/25-11/2). See this link for more general information. The games played on October 25th are the Ro.16 games (not played in Blizzcon), and only a week later (probably on 11/1, since the announcement says the winner will be crowned on day one) will the Ro.8 be played in Blizzcon.
TL;DR: You won't miss the games if you are able to attend Blizzcon at least on 11/1.
I loved the marathons when I was younger, whole day devoted to a tournament, some friends round and grab some beers.
Nowadays not so much, I’m older and have other things to do, I imagine the majority of SC2’s viewership skews post-college age nowadays.
Seems a bad decision on that basis to me.
Casting might be fine depending on rotation, I’ve casted (badly) many times and if you’re doing 8+ hours straight it is really draining to keep that energy and focus high.
I don’t think it’s ideal for the players but it’s not nearly as gruelling as coming through a WCS bracket or a Katowice open bracket.
Yeah it's so anti hype. I would prefer to give up on the arena but have at least the grand final with players and casters well rested and prepared. Waiting for the final also creates a lot of anticipation, speculation and all that stuff. Shame we won't have that. But hey, better something than nothing! I'm still hyped. But to be honest, it doesn't really sound like prestigious tournament when all RO8 happens on one day. Compared to IEM and WESG, Blizzcon starts to look like a minor tournament.
Edit: On the other hand, such format is also a challenge in itself for the players. One might argue "the best" player should be able to perform best no matter the conditions. I am really curious how is this gonna play out. Looking forward to an awesome day of StarCraft!
On September 24 2019 18:50 digmouse wrote: Hey it starts at like 3am for me and I'm way too old to stay till noon. You Europeans already drew the better straw.
Oh bother, it starts at 3am? I don't know if I have the willpower for this......
On September 25 2019 05:20 Majick wrote: On the other hand, such format is also a challenge in itself for the players. One might argue "the best" player should be able to perform best no matter the conditions. I am really curious how is this gonna play out. Looking forward to an awesome day of StarCraft!
I hate this excuse for bad formats. The biggest event of the year should be played with the best format/conditions possible.
The worse the conditions the more likely of upsets/players who are better losing. That's not something that belongs in a serious esport.
At least it's not like blizzcon 2013 where they had to force the ro16+ro8 into one day and people didn't get to watch half the games
On September 25 2019 09:04 LTCM wrote: In like it. Always felt like the pace was too slow before. Get it started and over with in one day is fine.
I agree, I like marathon style tournament but I'm aware that many people probably don't have the time to watch for so long so I can see why some are upset.
On September 26 2019 06:04 brickrd wrote: another thread where a bunch of people pretend to be more angry than they really are about inconsequential details
Can you teach me your ability to stare into the souls of men and read their feelings?
EPT
.
