Another snooze fest. This format with a million players per group is so bad and boring :/ Why dont they at least try to make the most overhyped region interesting?

Edpayasugo

United Kingdom2088 Posts

July 27 2021 10:25 GMT

#13

Toss time

Ciaus_Dronu

1271 Posts

July 27 2021 11:04 GMT

#14

Personally I quite like the big groups. Lots of different series with lots of potential to have some good matchups and spicy upsets. Not every series is good, but every day will likely have some good series.

The large number of matches also helps ensure that the top players make it further, which I think is good. Stuff like single elim too early can land you up with semis and finals that really aren't the best players duking it out, just because someone got unlucky.

rtomic

24 Posts

July 27 2021 13:34 GMT

#15

On July 27 2021 20:04 Ciaus_Dronu wrote:
Personally I quite like the big groups. Lots of different series with lots of potential to have some good matchups and spicy upsets. Not every series is good, but every day will likely have some good series.

The large number of matches also helps ensure that the top players make it further, which I think is good. Stuff like single elim too early can land you up with semis and finals that really aren't the best players duking it out, just because someone got unlucky.

However a favourite not making it due to falling in a single elim bracket is what I would call an upset. Serral losing 1 map in an 8-man group is hardly an upset or interesting to see...

I think only playing 1 or 2 matches per group per day is a strange schedule. I prefer the way GSL does it...

FCHK

24 Posts

July 27 2021 13:43 GMT

#16

Protoss being the dominant race in all regions except Latin America is so funny

EndlessViolence

109 Posts

July 27 2021 14:19 GMT

#17

super hyped for the tournament , lets goo

Moonerz

United States227 Posts

July 27 2021 14:48 GMT

#18

On July 27 2021 16:49 MarianoSC2 wrote:
Another snooze fest. This format with a million players per group is so bad and boring :/ Why dont they at least try to make the most overhyped region interesting?

I absolutely agree, it almost seems like they want so badly for none of the favorites to get knocked out in group stages. Makes sense from a viewership perspective but really makes the groups a lot less interesting. There are so many one sided games. Obviously we get the occasional upset but even if one of the top players drops a map or set against someone lower level it doesn't matter as they typically make it up over the course of the group.

Contrast this is GSL Ro 16 groups or even sometimes Ro28 and half the excitement is every game is so crucial because the damn group is so tough to get out of.

geokilla

Canada7855 Posts

July 27 2021 16:47 GMT

#19

At least it'll be good for betting.

BaneRiders

Sweden3612 Posts

July 27 2021 20:15 GMT

#20

I kind of like the idea of big groups, but having the games spread out over all groups all the time has made it very difficult for me to actually follow the groups very closely. I think it would have been better to finish one group after the other simply.

Die4Ever

United States16464 Posts

July 27 2021 20:49 GMT

#21

does europe even have an issue with this? the top EU players are so far ahead of the rest of EU that these large groups are super boring and unnecessary

IMO a group should not take longer than 1 or 2 days, and maybe even more importantly they should finish the groups 1 at a time instead of jumping around so much

warnull

United States217 Posts

July 28 2021 01:31 GMT

#22

I really enjoy the 8 player round robin groups. It gives a lot of games to watch over ~10 days. It's a perfect format for an online tournament in the pandemic era.

Vision_

358 Posts

July 30 2021 11:54 GMT

#23

On July 28 2021 10:31 warnull wrote:
I really enjoy the 8 player round robin groups. It gives a lot of games to watch over ~10 days. It's a perfect format for an online tournament in the pandemic era.

yes then it s a good way to promote SC2 over more than 10 years and which stands as the best 1v1 online game.

Philippe

74 Posts

July 30 2021 13:15 GMT

#24

On July 28 2021 05:49 Die4Ever wrote:

Show nested quote +

The desire to see lesser known and ranked players climbing up the pro ladder against looking at it on purely a skill/merit level. This will never change - as a viewer, large groups + double elim in playoffs is good to me.

tigera6

491 Posts

July 30 2021 14:02 GMT

#25

Its not like there are a whole bunch of tournament that top EU players has to play for during DH EU and that affect their performance. Might as well doing long group for viewership because you get to watch a top player every single day for nearly 2 weeks is pretty nice.

Die4Ever

United States16464 Posts

July 30 2021 20:12 GMT

#26

On July 30 2021 23:02 tigera6 wrote:
Its not like there are a whole bunch of tournament that top EU players has to play for during DH EU and that affect their performance. Might as well doing long group for viewership because you get to watch a top player every single day for nearly 2 weeks is pretty nice.

seems like the only arguments in favor of this format is the sheer number of games and seeing more players that aren't quite at the top, but then they could still do 1 group at a time and get them over with? it's just easier to follow and better story-telling

they could also maybe go back to the old Dreamhack format, with multiple group stages

look how dead the LR thread is lmao, and this thread is mostly just discussing the format not the actual matches because they aren't interesting

Moonerz

United States227 Posts

July 30 2021 20:38 GMT

#27

On July 31 2021 05:12 Die4Ever wrote:

Show nested quote +

seems like the only arguments in favor of this format is the sheer number of games and seeing more players that aren't quite at the top, but then they could still do 1 group at a time and get them over with? it's just easier to follow and better story-telling

look how dead the LR thread is lmao, and this thread is mostly just discussing the format not the actual matches because they aren't interesting

Wasn't every single match today a 2-0 lol

StasisField

United States581 Posts

July 30 2021 21:18 GMT

#28

On July 31 2021 05:12 Die4Ever wrote:

Show nested quote +

seems like the only arguments in favor of this format is the sheer number of games and seeing more players that aren't quite at the top, but then they could still do 1 group at a time and get them over with? it's just easier to follow and better story-telling

they could also maybe go back to the old Dreamhack format, with multiple group stages

look how dead the LR thread is lmao, and this thread is mostly just discussing the format not the actual matches because they aren't interesting

Agree 100% with the bold part. I feel less invested in the matches when tournaments jump around like this. To use this tournament as an example: right now, I'm invested in Harstem's journey through Group A. The other matches in Group A influence Harstem's journey, so naturally I want to watch more games from Group A to see how he's doing. When EU Group A finishes for the day, I stop watching except for a match here or there. There were 0 games from Group A today so the only match I watched today was Serral vs MarineLord because there was nothing else on and I really like watching Serral ZvT's.

If the tournament played through one group at a time, I would watch more games because I'd be able to focus on one player from each group and the games that affect them without the flow of that player's storyline breaking due to unrelated matches all the time.

WombaT

Northern Ireland16329 Posts

July 30 2021 22:18 GMT

#29

On July 31 2021 06:18 StasisField wrote:

Show nested quote +

That’s long been my issue with it, especially as folks have other things to juggle.

As per your example I could end up rooting for the #YearOfHarstem one day, he gets a few scalps and then I’m in work the next few times that group is on.

I think the current format would work if the groups were more closely stacked. Oh Serral had a bad day 1, can he bring it for game day 2, because if not he’s gone.

That could lead to quite exciting narratives and a high level of play with a little prep time, but you need the groups to be considerably more closely matched for there to be those kind of stakes if you’re stretching it out.