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ESL Pro Tour: Season 1 Evaluation & Season 2 Changes

Forum Index > SC2 General
17 CommentsPost a Reply
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33637 Posts
July 31 2020 15:52 GMT
#1
Following the conclusion of DreamHack Masters Summer and the collection of viewer feedback via an official survey, ESL has published its self evaluation of DreamHack Masters Summer, and also announced the changes going forward into DreamHack Masters Fall.

Read the full Season 1 Evaluation & Season 2 changes announcement

For the most part, ESL/DreamHack did not announce any major changes to the format of DreamHack Masters. Instead, they explained why they've decided to largely maintain the format from DH Masters Summer, and how they will try to improve upon it.

For instance, the round-robin group stages in Master EU and NA will continue to be played over the course of several weeks, but the broadcast will include more graphics and updates to allow fans to better follow the progress of the groups on a match-to-match basis.

Many smaller changes were announced across the board, including shorter break times between each regional tournament, fairer seeding in the season finals, adjustments to the cross-regional server selection policy, and increased moderation of Twitch chat (read official announcement for full list of changes).

The schedule for DreamHack Masters Fall has also been announced, with the tournament scheduled to take place between August 26th and September 20th.

[image loading]
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AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
zumpy
Profile Joined August 2011
United States122 Posts
July 31 2020 15:59 GMT
#2
I hope each regional tournament will be able to get their own animations and flairs to give unique personality to each region like what feardragon suggested on the pylon show. would definitely help the hype for each region leading into the finals
well won
ZigguratOfUr
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Iraq16955 Posts
July 31 2020 16:05 GMT
#3
Does moving Mongolia from Oceania to Taiwan literally just translate to "Risky has to play Singapore-Australia-Singapore instead of triple Singapore".
RPR_Tempest
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Australia7799 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-07-31 16:35:16
July 31 2020 16:34 GMT
#4
On August 01 2020 01:05 ZigguratOfUr wrote:
Does moving Mongolia from Oceania to Taiwan literally just translate to "Risky has to play Singapore-Australia-Singapore instead of triple Singapore".

I don't know what Mongolia has to do with that, but that would be a good decision and a lot more fair IMO.

I think the Mongolia thing literally only affects Sioras, the one Mongolian player.
Soundwave, Zerg player from Canberra, Australia. @SoundwaveSC
ZigguratOfUr
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Iraq16955 Posts
July 31 2020 16:49 GMT
#5
On August 01 2020 01:34 RPR_Tempest wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 01 2020 01:05 ZigguratOfUr wrote:
Does moving Mongolia from Oceania to Taiwan literally just translate to "Risky has to play Singapore-Australia-Singapore instead of triple Singapore".

I don't know what Mongolia has to do with that, but that would be a good decision and a lot more fair IMO.

I think the Mongolia thing literally only affects Sioras, the one Mongolian player.


As an out of region player for the Oceania region I believe Risky chose the North East Asia location (Mongolia) as his home location since it gave him better servers? We'll see how that looks when they publish the updated cross-tables.
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
July 31 2020 23:46 GMT
#6
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
Serimek
Profile Joined August 2011
France2274 Posts
July 31 2020 23:55 GMT
#7
On August 01 2020 08:46 sneakyfox wrote:
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.


To me this overlapping was one of the biggest issue :/
SC2 is the best game to watch and was the best to play before I grew old and slow...
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
August 01 2020 01:05 GMT
#8
On August 01 2020 08:55 Serimek wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 01 2020 08:46 sneakyfox wrote:
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.


To me this overlapping was one of the biggest issue :/

It was literally the only complaint I included in the feedback form. I get that scheduling is hard, but given Korean players are already getting the short end of the stick on timing, it seems rough to also make them compete in multiple premier tournaments simultaneously.
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
August 01 2020 03:33 GMT
#9
On August 01 2020 08:55 Serimek wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 01 2020 08:46 sneakyfox wrote:
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.


To me this overlapping was one of the biggest issue :/

Hu?
They stated they are going to reduced the overlapp as much as possible but can t gurantee it to be 100% overlapp free?
MaxPax
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
August 01 2020 09:03 GMT
#10
On August 01 2020 12:33 dbRic1203 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 01 2020 08:55 Serimek wrote:
On August 01 2020 08:46 sneakyfox wrote:
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.


To me this overlapping was one of the biggest issue :/

Hu?
They stated they are going to reduced the overlapp as much as possible but can t gurantee it to be 100% overlapp free?



They didn't really. Here is what they wrote:

ESL PRO TOUR OVERLAPPING WITH GSL
We acknowledge that there were frequent overlaps between the OCE/RoA division & the GSL however is incredibly difficult to prevent with the footprint of both tournaments. There will be a slight reduction in Season 2 & and a heavier reduction in Season 3.


No mention of the season finals.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
August 01 2020 09:31 GMT
#11
On August 01 2020 18:03 sneakyfox wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 01 2020 12:33 dbRic1203 wrote:
On August 01 2020 08:55 Serimek wrote:
On August 01 2020 08:46 sneakyfox wrote:
Well I'm happy that ESL are clear about what they're going to do and that they're acknowledging receiving feedback.

But other than that, this is disappointing tbh. Barely any changes coming at all. Also there is not a single word on the problem of the season finals overlapping with Code S.


To me this overlapping was one of the biggest issue :/

Hu?
They stated they are going to reduced the overlapp as much as possible but can t gurantee it to be 100% overlapp free?



They didn't really. Here is what they wrote:

Show nested quote +
ESL PRO TOUR OVERLAPPING WITH GSL
We acknowledge that there were frequent overlaps between the OCE/RoA division & the GSL however is incredibly difficult to prevent with the footprint of both tournaments. There will be a slight reduction in Season 2 & and a heavier reduction in Season 3.


No mention of the season finals.

Damit. Well I gues it s kind of hard to plan around GSL for that, as Afreeca didn t release their schedule yet. We can only hope, that ESL, DH and Afreeca are communicating to work around it this time.
MaxPax
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33637 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-01 10:54:45
August 01 2020 10:43 GMT
#12
I dunno if it's reasonable to expect huge scheduling changes. Both companies want a weekend broadcast slot for viewership's sake. Neither company wants to randomly take a week off and break their viewer's rhythm. Both companies are running a 1+ month long schedule.

Who's gonna agree to a break week? How do you decide who bites the bullet and takes one for "the team". AFAIK, GSL only does hiatuses for super-major international events like IEM Katowice, where like 80% of its players are going to be attending. Also, you can't ask them to completely stagger their schedules so there's no overlap. It's not like GSL is gonna take a 5 week break between Code S tourneys so ESL Pro Tour can take place.

I think the perfect world is the Season Finals week takes place in the qualifier/break week between Code S seasons, but the revamped/COVID-adjusted DH season was too hastily put together to expect that kind of coordinated scheduling midway through this year (presumably, these companies have already made plans for shit that's not SC2). Remember, there weren't even supposed to be season finals—they're "bonus" events created as part of the COVID-adjusted DH season. The planned Global Events before Katowice 2021 were [unnamed winter event] which I am presuming was some kind of IEM China event (ESL War3 was going to be there, too, I imagine), and maaaaybe some kind of all-star match at BlizzCon (which has also been COVID cancelled).
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
August 01 2020 12:29 GMT
#13
On August 01 2020 19:43 Waxangel wrote:
I dunno if it's reasonable to expect huge scheduling changes. Both companies want a weekend broadcast slot for viewership's sake. Neither company wants to randomly take a week off and break their viewer's rhythm. Both companies are running a 1+ month long schedule.

Who's gonna agree to a break week? How do you decide who bites the bullet and takes one for "the team". AFAIK, GSL only does hiatuses for super-major international events like IEM Katowice, where like 80% of its players are going to be attending. Also, you can't ask them to completely stagger their schedules so there's no overlap. It's not like GSL is gonna take a 5 week break between Code S tourneys so ESL Pro Tour can take place.

I think the perfect world is the Season Finals week takes place in the qualifier/break week between Code S seasons, but the revamped/COVID-adjusted DH season was too hastily put together to expect that kind of coordinated scheduling midway through this year (presumably, these companies have already made plans for shit that's not SC2). Remember, there weren't even supposed to be season finals—they're "bonus" events created as part of the COVID-adjusted DH season. The planned Global Events before Katowice 2021 were [unnamed winter event] which I am presuming was some kind of IEM China event (ESL War3 was going to be there, too, I imagine), and maaaaybe some kind of all-star match at BlizzCon (which has also been COVID cancelled).


I don't think anyone is asking for zero overlap between the entire tournaments, that would be impossible. But the season finals are only a single week, it should at least be possible to have that played in a GSL break. Would be nice if someone was willing to be flexible here. But yeah it's a problem that they already made schedules and I imagine the GSL is much less flexible now that it is back on cable tv. That could also explain why the tournaments are so compressed.

I pray that next year we get season finals at the dreamhack events and that the GSL and ESL events are coordinated well in advance.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
imre
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
France9263 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-08-01 13:14:49
August 01 2020 13:14 GMT
#14
We should be good for that
Zest fanboy.
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33637 Posts
August 01 2020 14:12 GMT
#15
On August 01 2020 22:14 imre wrote:
We should be good for that
https://twitter.com/ApolloSC2/status/1289548397171507203




sounds good :O
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
August 01 2020 16:11 GMT
#16
On August 01 2020 22:14 imre wrote:
We should be good for that
https://twitter.com/ApolloSC2/status/1289548397171507203


Apollo, the hero we deserve.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4967 Posts
August 03 2020 13:52 GMT
#17
I am just very happy ESL is making this effort to maintain the SC2 scene. Thanks all.
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
HolydaKing
Profile Joined February 2010
21254 Posts
August 03 2020 13:58 GMT
#18
On August 03 2020 22:52 Argonauta wrote:
I am just very happy ESL is making this effort to maintain the SC2 scene. Thanks all.

Indeed, things are much better since ESL is doing things IMO. I also really liked the things written in this evaluation and if only parts of the changes will make it I'll be happy.
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