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Active: 582 users

Which SC2 expansion had the most entertaining esports?

Forum Index > SC2 General
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1 2 3 4 Next All
TL.net Bot
Profile Joined June 2004
TL.net130 Posts
July 04 2024 12:08 GMT
#1
Discussion thread for front page poll: "Which SC2 expansion had the most entertaining esports?"
Chris_Havoc
Profile Joined August 2016
United States600 Posts
July 04 2024 12:23 GMT
#2
For me, Heart of the Swarm. That's when I was most into the GSL, Proleague, WCS, and even many Tier 2 tournaments.

Miss some of the maps from the HotS-era too like Overgrowth, King Sejong Station, Frost LE, and Habitation Station.
Owner of the SC2 Esports Anthology channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SC2EsportsAnthology
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
July 04 2024 13:13 GMT
#3
HotS did, but not necessarily because the game was always in the best state. We just had a much bigger scene, and Proleague was always the most entertaining Starcraft tournament. Plus the larger WCS circuit, Blizzcon etc
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
dysenterymd
Profile Joined January 2019
1199 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-07-04 13:25:20
July 04 2024 13:21 GMT
#4
On July 04 2024 22:13 Fango wrote:
HotS did, but not necessarily because the game was always in the best state. We just had a much bigger scene, and Proleague was always the most entertaining Starcraft tournament. Plus the larger WCS circuit, Blizzcon etc

100%, even though HotS had multiple metas that were a complete mess (mainly Swarmhosts and hellbats being the main culprits, though early 2014 TvP was also miserable), everything besides the meta itself was so much more exciting. By the second half of 2015 the HotS meta was pretty good though (I never minded the mine-out mech games, but maybe I'm in the minority there), wouldn't have minded if it lasted a little longer.

The game itself has been in its best state since 2020 though, sad that that coincided with the scene shrinking so much. Proleague in this gamestate would be amazing.
Serral | Inno | sOs | soO | Has | Classic
Cricketer12
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States13974 Posts
July 04 2024 17:30 GMT
#5
HotS > WoL > LotV
Kaina + Drones Linkcro Summon Cupsie Yummy Way
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany15919 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-07-04 18:08:17
July 04 2024 17:55 GMT
#6
On July 04 2024 22:21 dysenterymd wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 04 2024 22:13 Fango wrote:
HotS did, but not necessarily because the game was always in the best state. We just had a much bigger scene, and Proleague was always the most entertaining Starcraft tournament. Plus the larger WCS circuit, Blizzcon etc

100%, even though HotS had multiple metas that were a complete mess (mainly Swarmhosts and hellbats being the main culprits, though early 2014 TvP was also miserable), everything besides the meta itself was so much more exciting. By the second half of 2015 the HotS meta was pretty good though (I never minded the mine-out mech games, but maybe I'm in the minority there), wouldn't have minded if it lasted a little longer.

The game itself has been in its best state since 2020 though, sad that that coincided with the scene shrinking so much. Proleague in this gamestate would be amazing.

I think 2017/2018 had just as good of a gamestate as 2020 onwards and the scene was in a much healthier state.
Although there was no Proleague anymore, 2017/2018 still had a strong, exciting GSL and the story of emerging strong foreigners (Neeb, then Serral) and I think the circuit system was better (WCS EU and WCS NA being a battle of "washed up" koreans was a bit of a mess).

Overall, my vote goes to LotV because of 2017/2018 being my favorite sc2 years.

2016 and 2019 unfortunately had a much worse gamestate, then Covid happened and after that the scene basically was a shadow of its former self
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
radracer
Profile Joined March 2020
United States70 Posts
July 04 2024 18:38 GMT
#7
PURELY Entertaining? It's gotta be when the game was new/fresh/hype

When Barcrafts were happening all the time and SC2 was the most popular esport on the planet: it's WoL.
old
Xamo
Profile Joined April 2012
Spain877 Posts
July 04 2024 19:19 GMT
#8
HotS, specifically the second half of HotS, is the clear winner for me.
There were so many tournaments, with almost all historically relevant players participating... and on top of it felt nicely balanced.
My life for Aiur. You got a piece of me, baby. IIIIIIiiiiiii.
Starcloud
Profile Joined September 2018
137 Posts
July 04 2024 20:08 GMT
#9
On July 05 2024 03:38 radracer wrote:
PURELY Entertaining? It's gotta be when the game was new/fresh/hype

When Barcrafts were happening all the time and SC2 was the most popular esport on the planet: it's WoL.


Yeah, agree 100% on this. Everything was new. HYPE was good. New strategies emerged all the time. Playerbase was in its peak and new talents were coming/going frequently. Very entertaining and surprising. Only thing missing was foreingers success, which we had to wait for bit too long to emerge.

As I loved the zerg and especially the single player campaign in HOTS, the majority of it was pretty dissapointing in terms of e-sports. Of course all remember the dreaded BL/Infestor-era, which we would gladly erase from SC2 history if given the choice. The end of expansion started to be bit better if I recall right.

LOTV is kinda divided expansion for me. I think nowadays the balance is and has been actually pretty good, though terran is bit favoured especially in TvZ. Nothing major though. Bit downside is, that early game and proper cheeses have almost gone and the lategame seem to be a bit dull at times.

So all in all, for me its; WOTL -------------> LOTV---------> HOTS.


SUGGESTION::: Nowadays seems that nostalgia is the name of the game in gaming industry; WOW, Fortnite, PUBG, WC3 etc. seem to bring the OG-maps and gameplays back and they seem to be very popular. What IF there would be a chance to play with WOTL maps and units etc. ? With different server ? Would that bring back players or create any hype ?
Blitzball04
Profile Joined June 2024
191 Posts
July 04 2024 21:08 GMT
#10
Definitely LoTV in terms of viewing experience and skill level

WOL and HOTS was literally boring especially the first couple minutes of just building workers. HOtS definitely was the worst due to some of the most cancer build such as swarm host vs swarm host.

Or turtle mass raven/mech hiding in their main and trying to make the game into a draw
Ciaus237
Profile Joined July 2015
South Africa280 Posts
July 04 2024 21:46 GMT
#11
On July 05 2024 06:08 Blitzball04 wrote:Definitely LoTV in terms of viewing experience and skill level

WOL and HOTS was literally boring especially the first couple minutes of just building workers. HOtS definitely was the worst due to some of the most cancer build such as swarm host vs swarm host.

Or turtle mass raven/mech hiding in their main and trying to make the game into a draw


100% this.

Going back to watch old blizzcon and gsl videos is, despite the nostalgia, a bit painful. The pacing just feels slow, and the number of genuinely awful late-games in HotS is just too high for me to rank it above LotV in viewing experience.

Helps that LotV has also been around long enough to collect a lot of good games.
The time that we kill keeps us alive
FataLe
Profile Joined November 2010
New Zealand4495 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-07-04 23:57:20
July 04 2024 23:04 GMT
#12
If I take away the shiny new toy syndome of WoL then by a landslide it's got to be LotV. Game feels far more fluid and dynamic, games develop quicker and it's fairly balanced at the highest level. HotS was the era I stopped playing and watching because I couldn't take anymore swarm host meta. But I otherwise really enjoyed HotS as an expansion and without that specific meta era, I may have it my 2nd place. WoL was always the time I'm most fond of however, staying up reeeeally late just to watch Fruit Dealer take the first GSL using a dynamic and varied playstyle all on a grainy, pixelated viewport. Or watching Tester fend off a proxy 2 gate with just 1 gate of his own. Or watching San Zenith make Artosis eat his own words by playing by far the highest level P v T game we had seen at that time. So many core memories made during that era. It's the expansion i'll remember most but ultimately, LotV is a far more entertaining game to watch.

LotV > WoL > HotS
hi. big fan.
Riquiz
Profile Joined June 2011
Netherlands402 Posts
July 04 2024 23:41 GMT
#13
Depends on what you enjoy the most I think.

If you enjoyed the flourishing of the scene and lots of people learning about starcraft and all of its inticracies together with the whole esports scene + twitch exploding? Yeah WoL and HotS take the cake.

Do you enjoy high level high quality starcraft with foreigners slowly creeping up on the koreans? LotV

I have a lot of nostalgia for WoL and HotS - as a player I enjoyed HotS the most - but I think LotV is just arms and shoulders above its predecessors. (although the WoL campaign still kicks ass)
Caster man does casting on yt/RiquizCasts
AirbladeOrange
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2573 Posts
July 05 2024 00:37 GMT
#14
Can't beat the hype, craziness, and drama of the early years. Wings of Liberty had terrible maps and frustrating strategies, but it was a magical time.
geokilla
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada8230 Posts
July 05 2024 01:21 GMT
#15
On July 04 2024 22:13 Fango wrote:
HotS did, but not necessarily because the game was always in the best state. We just had a much bigger scene, and Proleague was always the most entertaining Starcraft tournament. Plus the larger WCS circuit, Blizzcon etc

I'd like to also add that with HotS, we actually had an early and mid game. Now there's no early game and mid game lasts for about 3 minutes and late game kicks in at 10 minutes. The game is way too fast for it to be entertaining to watch.

With Legacy of the Void, the game doesn't feel as entertaining to watch anymore. A lot of players do the same strats as everyone else and it all comes down to who can macro and micro better. I'm sure other players who are more knowledgeable in the game disagree but that's what it feels like when I watch now. I find CS2 and LoL to be more entertaining to watch nowadays, and I was never a LoL fan.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25047 Posts
July 05 2024 01:52 GMT
#16
As with much of SC2 if I could bottle various elements from different eras that’d be nifty

WoL had novelty which was nice, HotS had probs the peak of competitivity and Legacy probably had the best game state.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Mizenhauer
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
United States1847 Posts
July 05 2024 01:58 GMT
#17
https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/561920-2015-the-renaissance-and-golden-age-of-korean-sc2
┗|∵|┓Second Place in LB 28, Third Place in LB 29 and Destined to Be a Kong
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia19229 Posts
July 05 2024 11:27 GMT
#18
WoL was peak entertainment given all the personalities involved between players, casters, event organizers, and shows in between.
LOTV is peak in game entertainment. The flow to the game has vastly improved over the past couple years.

HoTS is barely memorable. What I remember are just the boring stalemate games.
ModeratorFormer Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1891 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-07-05 11:41:20
July 05 2024 11:40 GMT
#19
On July 05 2024 10:21 geokilla wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 04 2024 22:13 Fango wrote:
HotS did, but not necessarily because the game was always in the best state. We just had a much bigger scene, and Proleague was always the most entertaining Starcraft tournament. Plus the larger WCS circuit, Blizzcon etc

I'd like to also add that with HotS, we actually had an early and mid game. Now there's no early game and mid game lasts for about 3 minutes and late game kicks in at 10 minutes. The game is way too fast for it to be entertaining to watch.

With Legacy of the Void, the game doesn't feel as entertaining to watch anymore. A lot of players do the same strats as everyone else and it all comes down to who can macro and micro better. I'm sure other players who are more knowledgeable in the game disagree but that's what it feels like when I watch now. I find CS2 and LoL to be more entertaining to watch nowadays, and I was never a LoL fan.


Wings was definitely the most entertaining era for me, balance issues and relative skill level (compared to today) aside, especially with the sheer volume of events/tournaments, much better player diversity paired with the general novelty/popularity of the game.

I 100% agree that the 12 worker start made the game less entertaining to watch overall.
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1891 Posts
July 05 2024 11:43 GMT
#20
On July 05 2024 08:41 Riquiz wrote:
Depends on what you enjoy the most I think.

If you enjoyed the flourishing of the scene and lots of people learning about starcraft and all of its inticracies together with the whole esports scene + twitch exploding? Yeah WoL and HotS take the cake.

Do you enjoy high level high quality starcraft with foreigners slowly creeping up on the koreans? LotV

I have a lot of nostalgia for WoL and HotS - as a player I enjoyed HotS the most - but I think LotV is just arms and shoulders above its predecessors. (although the WoL campaign still kicks ass)


Haha, same, as a more defensive Terran player with a mech affinity HotS just offered the best environment for me to play, by far.
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
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