EPTThe Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will feature the first ever global StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm tournament.
On March 5-9 the world's best StarCraft II players will meet at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany to compete in the $100,000 final to the Intel Extreme Masters season, one week before the official release of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Zm5xtJH.jpg)
The 24 participants have qualified for the event through our stops all over the globe within the past months. Fans all over the world will be able to enjoy their heroes bring new strategies to the battlefield, as well as a broadcast with the new spectator UI. Most importantly, the integrity of the tournament will be protected by the resume from replay function.
Over its history, the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship at CeBIT has always been a celebration of Blizzard's major esports titles, with Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, World of Warcraft and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty tournaments. Thanks to Blizzard, CeBIT on March 5-9 will be the only place in the world where StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be played.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uTBMqtn.jpg)
The event will take place three days before the European release of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, that will go along with a launch party taking place in Versailles, France on the evening of March 11, as well as other cities across the globe.
These launch parties will allow visitors to meet famous players, commentators and the developers of the game and Blizzard Europe has already made arrangements to invite the Intel Extreme Masters World Champion to the launch party in Versailles, France.
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Posts by Carmac from IEM
On February 16 2013 01:10 Carmac wrote:
We indicated the possibility to players, however the final confirmation that this is feasible was received recently. It is a very non standard situation for Blizzard since they had never done anything like it before with an outside partner. Plus pulling this off on Blizzard's side is, from what I know, technically and procedurally a big task (and I'm thankful they made it happen).
We indicated the possibility to players, however the final confirmation that this is feasible was received recently. It is a very non standard situation for Blizzard since they had never done anything like it before with an outside partner. Plus pulling this off on Blizzard's side is, from what I know, technically and procedurally a big task (and I'm thankful they made it happen).
On February 16 2013 01:22 Carmac wrote:
It is Blizzard we're talking about when it comes to pulling this off smoothly. We'll be playing on a European HotS server as well.
It is Blizzard we're talking about when it comes to pulling this off smoothly. We'll be playing on a European HotS server as well.
On February 16 2013 02:33 Carmac wrote:
I appreciate the support and I hope you'll watch us in the future. This wasn't a simple decision, be sure of that.
I appreciate the support and I hope you'll watch us in the future. This wasn't a simple decision, be sure of that.
Post by LiquidNazgul
On February 16 2013 02:34 Liquid`Nazgul wrote:
Whether you agree or disagree with the decision I hope you take into account that people always get hurt in this situation. It is unavoidable for people not to get hurt. So if you are saying "this hurts the people who were practicing WoL" that is not a good enough motivation by itself. If this had been a WoL tournament it hurts every player in this tournament by being behind in skill for HotS when all the major tournaments start there. This is also what will happen to the players qualified to IPL.
There is a big reason to keep it WoL; having the same game your players qualified for obviously makes a lot of sense from a competitive perspective. However, that is not the end all be all of reasons. This can be shown by simply looking at a situation where HotS comes out after 3 months into an IEM year. Would you want them to have the finals 9 months later in WoL? I'm sure every person posting in this thread would consider that the wrong move too. This indicates that for all of you out there it is possible to have reasons that outweigh the competitive consistency reasoning.
I don't particularly care, and I told Carmac that we would respect his decision either way. I can see the arguments on both sides here and don't really see it as a right or wrong situation. Financially IEM thinks they need this and that WoL may not satisfy their sponsors with the numbers it will draw. Competitively you give up consistency from qualifiers to finals, which is a big deal to give up as a legitimate sport. On the other hand you also gain the players not starting behind in the HotS scene because of making them commit to an old game.
Whether you agree or disagree with the decision I hope you take into account that people always get hurt in this situation. It is unavoidable for people not to get hurt. So if you are saying "this hurts the people who were practicing WoL" that is not a good enough motivation by itself. If this had been a WoL tournament it hurts every player in this tournament by being behind in skill for HotS when all the major tournaments start there. This is also what will happen to the players qualified to IPL.
There is a big reason to keep it WoL; having the same game your players qualified for obviously makes a lot of sense from a competitive perspective. However, that is not the end all be all of reasons. This can be shown by simply looking at a situation where HotS comes out after 3 months into an IEM year. Would you want them to have the finals 9 months later in WoL? I'm sure every person posting in this thread would consider that the wrong move too. This indicates that for all of you out there it is possible to have reasons that outweigh the competitive consistency reasoning.
I don't particularly care, and I told Carmac that we would respect his decision either way. I can see the arguments on both sides here and don't really see it as a right or wrong situation. Financially IEM thinks they need this and that WoL may not satisfy their sponsors with the numbers it will draw. Competitively you give up consistency from qualifiers to finals, which is a big deal to give up as a legitimate sport. On the other hand you also gain the players not starting behind in the HotS scene because of making them commit to an old game.
