UPDATE #3 - BGH FPVODs
UPDATE #2 - BGH Mega Replay Pack
UPDATE #1 - Surfer vs TnY showmatch
With all these negative threads popping out all over the BW section, I think it's time for a positive one. This will be a post about a BGH community and why now is the perfect time to start playing BGH if you're still into BW. This will not be a post if BW is better game than SC2 or if low maps are better than BGH, so don't bring that shit into this thread.
This smiley has captured the souls of many players. Now it's after yours!
There has always been some sort of dark light over BGH and it's players when it would be brought up in random discussions in low map community. And even though Teamliquid has gone a long way in how the BGH is treated here, I still feel that a lot of people see BGH like a map that's played by all the hackers and newbies in the world and like a map that people only play when they just start playing BW and then move on to the "men's maps". While certainly I agree that BGH is the map that at least 90% of players have started playing BW on, I believe it can be more than just the rite of passage of every BW player. After all, the BGH has been one of the most played map in BW. You'd think that this map ought to be perfect when people still after 12 years play it over and over again. But when you look at the BGH from purely technical point of view, you see that it's far from it. BGH is an asymmetrical map and it's both race and position imbalanced. But maybe that's exactly the reason why people don't get tired of it. This is most noticeable after the release of SC2, where I've noticed one peculiar thing. The BGH scene has not followed decline in player's activity to the same extent as the general BW population has. It may have something to do with how I always perceived BGH players as people who do what they love and don't care about anything else. Now of course, this stubbornness isn't always a good thing but more on that later. Right now I'm trying to get you to play BGH so I'll leave negative side of BGH community for later ^^.
So to summarize this wall of text above, who I'm quite sure most of you won't even read, here are some of the main reasons why you should start playing BGH now:
- BGH scene is still quite active.
- BGH community suits all skill levels. From public games for the most casual players to the several levels of "innys" for players of all colors in ICCup rank.
- Plenty of good and mannered people. They're just hard to find sometimes
- Bonding with people through teamplay.
- FUN!
Now that I've got you at least a little bit interested in the BGH scene, there are some things that you need to know if you wish to explore this foreign land some more. Where do BGHers meet and play? Even though it was a noble try (maybe a little bit naive), server consolidation suggestion has probably ended up in trash bin at Blizzard's headquarters. But the strange thing happened nonetheless. After a release of SC2, BGH players from all gateways converged to the same place thus making a server consolidation of their own. That place is the East server with main channel being the )v(. Now I know this is the biggest drawback of BGH community, because it would be ideal if the whole BGH community transferred to the ICCup. But sadly, this is not happening any time soon. It has been tried many times before, but I guess BGHers have this feeling of "home" at the official servers where on ICCup they feel like strangers. But to be honest, this isn't that bad as it may seem at first. You can get used to it pretty quick and the atmosphere there grows on you. Besides the East server, and I apologize for pulling this shameless promotion, but another home for all BGHers is http://www.thebgh.com/ - the BGH community website. Pretty much all the top players in BGH community visits this website and so should you .
With that being said, here are the things you should know if you decide to dive into the BGH community:
- The main channel where BGHers meet and play is )v( @East.
- http://www.TheBGH.com/ - the BGH community website.
- "Inny", meaning "inner house", games are the most popular because you play with people who you know instead of random people in public games.
- You can pretty much find game at any time in )v(, but the best time for regular innys is from 4pm all the way to 4am EST.
- If ICCup is your main playground, you will have to get used to the Bnet's latency. Most people who play innys have Chaoslauncher though so games on Lan Latency are possible as well.
- Of course there are hackers who play BGH, but they're mostly public players so hacking is not really an issue in inny games.
- The bad mannered people are also the loudest ones. Don't let them discourage you because there are also plenty of good mannered people.
Remember, YOU can be the next BGH king!
BGH community is like a family, a dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless. Pretty much, everyone knows everyone, and while there are a lot of grudges, there's also a lot of friendships. I just hope this thread remains in good spirit and the drama-free, as I'd like to keep this thread as a place where I can update some of the biggest happenings in the BGH community, no matter how scarce they are.