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Active: 672 users

TLnet Poll - Has online-only competition during the pandem…

Has online-only competition during the pandemic changed your enjoyment of pro SC2? :

No change in my enjoyment of pro SC2 (1165)46%
Somewhat decreased my enjoyment of pro SC2 (761)30%
Greatly decreased my enjoyment of pro SC2 (322)13%
Increased my enjoyment of pro SC2 (271)11%

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
TL.net Bot
Profile Joined June 2004
TL.net130 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 16:34:23
June 29 2021 16:33 GMT
#1
TL.net poll:
Has online-only competition during the pandemic changed your enjoyment of pro SC2?
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33340 Posts
June 29 2021 16:36 GMT
#2
The non-Korean StarCraft II scene had to make massive changes to its tournaments during the pandemic, most notably moving to all-online formats.

When you look at the changes in their totality (formats, scheduling, production, atmosphere, etc), have they affected your enjoyment of pro StarCraft II?
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
phodacbiet
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1740 Posts
June 29 2021 16:49 GMT
#3
Nope, I still enjoy it. It's not like I was watching it live (aside from Blizzcon) anyways. The only thing I worry about is the ping for the players. Sure it's playable, but when I try to play on EU/KR from NA I feel a noticeable ping delay, so there's always this thought on the back of my head that player A could've won had ping been better. I know everyone has to deal with this right now but it would be nice for the players to play with no lag.
ploguidice
Profile Blog Joined June 2013
United States230 Posts
June 29 2021 16:56 GMT
#4
On June 30 2021 01:36 Waxangel wrote:
The non-Korean StarCraft II scene had to make massive changes to its tournaments during the pandemic, most notably moving to all-online formats.

When you look at the changes in their totality (formats, scheduling, production, atmosphere, etc), have they affected your enjoyment of pro StarCraft II?


I've become significantly more invested in the regional events than I was in regional challenger stuff pre-pandemic, but I've become less interested in the season finals compared to the pre-pandemic championship open LANs. I think I'm turned off by the fact that by that they're sort of EU versus KR events by design. It's always fun when a player from a less prominent region makes a big dark horse run, but the distribution of seeds feels like it almost precludes that possibility.
I'm Joe
zumpy
Profile Joined August 2011
United States122 Posts
June 29 2021 17:00 GMT
#5
I definitely enjoyed just as much the only issue I have is there is another element of playing in studio vs playing at home online which cheapens some victories. also when accounting for some ping differences going from EU to KR it's tough to truly rate the international competitions as highest level play and make it harder to determine true current best of the best

also while I've loved seeing Clem improve over the pandemic, the lack of in studio victories and having the playing with higher ping for international tourneys makes it harder to truly rate him as a player.
I've also felt that Serral has been underperforming since the start of the pandemic partially due to the fact that he was usually one to perform better in a studio rather than online, which is tough to see as a fan

overall enjoyment is still very high but there is no replacement for in studio international events
well won
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12790 Posts
June 29 2021 17:11 GMT
#6
My enjoyment of same server tournaments hasn’t changed much, even though there is a bit more hype with offline etc.
But for sure I didn’t enjoy as much international matches played on cross-server compared to live play, both because of pings and timezones. I am still thankful for EU being the primary target, and thus the competitions are at good hours compared to for example BlizzCon of the past that finished at like 4-5am in France.
Players webcam kits is a nice addition.
WriterMaru
Haku
Profile Joined August 2013
Germany550 Posts
June 29 2021 17:24 GMT
#7
Missing the lack of an offline tournament vibe. Most tourneys sadly feel the same.
Player cams help a lot! They are really appreciated and made me love events way more than ones without.

Lost interest in multiple matches because they just felt like another better EPT Cup when there were no cams.

Really want offline competition back...
Jaedong | Life | MKP | PartinG | LosirA | ByuN | TaeJa | TY | TLO | Bomber | HerO | Rotti | Dark | Stephano | Maru | Ragnarok | MC | IdrA | Serral | Creator | Bunny | INnoVation | Liquid | Prime | JinAir
JustPassingBy
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
10776 Posts
June 29 2021 17:31 GMT
#8
All major online tournaments should have playercams imo.
Serimek
Profile Joined August 2011
France2274 Posts
June 29 2021 18:13 GMT
#9
It feels like there is more SC2 lately, and it's amazing. BUT tourneys feel more alike than before to me.
SC2 is the best game to watch and was the best to play before I grew old and slow...
renaissanceMAN
Profile Joined March 2011
United States1840 Posts
June 29 2021 18:15 GMT
#10
No change in my enjoyment, but very happy with the quantity/ease of tournaments that have come about. I know it's caused some scheduling conflicts on the players, but I'm much happier with the number competitions happening rather than a small handful of big production tournaments.
On August 15 2013 03:43 Waxangel wrote: no amount of money can replace the enjoyment of being mean to people on the internet
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12129 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 18:25:53
June 29 2021 18:24 GMT
#11
On June 30 2021 01:36 Waxangel wrote:
The non-Korean StarCraft II scene had to make massive changes to its tournaments during the pandemic, most notably moving to all-online formats.

When you look at the changes in their totality (formats, scheduling, production, atmosphere, etc), have they affected your enjoyment of pro StarCraft II?

I stopped watching SC2, but I have no idea if it's because of the decreasing quality, staleness or change to all online. Probably all of the above. So yeah, unfortunately it did.

Edit> Is this a closed poll? As it seems I can't vote, just wondering, no big deal, already stated my point :D
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33340 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 18:28:31
June 29 2021 18:28 GMT
#12
On June 30 2021 03:24 deacon.frost wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 30 2021 01:36 Waxangel wrote:
The non-Korean StarCraft II scene had to make massive changes to its tournaments during the pandemic, most notably moving to all-online formats.

When you look at the changes in their totality (formats, scheduling, production, atmosphere, etc), have they affected your enjoyment of pro StarCraft II?

I stopped watching SC2, but I have no idea if it's because of the decreasing quality, staleness or change to all online. Probably all of the above. So yeah, unfortunately it did.

Edit> Is this a closed poll? As it seems I can't vote, just wondering, no big deal, already stated my point :D


nah I just started moving the poll discussion threads to the SC2 general forum, but u can still only vote by scrolling down on the front page :[
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12129 Posts
June 29 2021 18:29 GMT
#13
On June 30 2021 03:28 Waxangel wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 30 2021 03:24 deacon.frost wrote:
On June 30 2021 01:36 Waxangel wrote:
The non-Korean StarCraft II scene had to make massive changes to its tournaments during the pandemic, most notably moving to all-online formats.

When you look at the changes in their totality (formats, scheduling, production, atmosphere, etc), have they affected your enjoyment of pro StarCraft II?

I stopped watching SC2, but I have no idea if it's because of the decreasing quality, staleness or change to all online. Probably all of the above. So yeah, unfortunately it did.

Edit> Is this a closed poll? As it seems I can't vote, just wondering, no big deal, already stated my point :D


nah I just started moving the poll discussion threads to the SC2 general forum, but u can still only vote by scrolling down on the front page :[

I see! Thanks.
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
Karis Vas Ryaar
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States4396 Posts
June 29 2021 18:36 GMT
#14
not really. It makes cross server stuff less legitimate in my eye (in terms of figuring out whose really better) and I'm sure it hurts some players and/or play styles but I don't know enough to really notice. Also the tournaments have been doing a good job of balancing regional stuff with more international stuff. Not nearly as big of a deal for me as some other video games.
"I'm not agreeing with a lot of Virus's decisions but they are working" Tasteless. Ipl4 Losers Bracket Virus 2-1 Maru
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33340 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 18:38:06
June 29 2021 18:36 GMT
#15
It's not like I took out a stopwatch and measured, but I feel like the low downtime between matches has been really nice in a lot of tournaments. Although, DH Masters seems to have live-level downtime depending on the day

Also, the normalization of player cams is something that will help online tournaments feel more weighty even when/if we get back to a 'normal' DreamHack Open style circuit. I really hope that we'll continue to have significant online-only events going forward :0
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
neptunusfisk
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
2286 Posts
June 29 2021 18:41 GMT
#16
I've had more time to watch and it doesn't feel like the level of play has been affected that much.

Looking forward to Clem and Reynor facing some top koreans in an offline event with an audience. 😎
maru G5L pls
Vindicare605
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States16056 Posts
June 29 2021 18:53 GMT
#17
There was already a gap between how much I enjoy GSL and how much I enjoy other events, and during the pandemic that gap widened.
aka: KTVindicare the Geeky Bartender
lost dedicated
Profile Joined June 2021
41 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 19:16:40
June 29 2021 19:15 GMT
#18
Like Vindicare said, I can enjoy when they have the venue and everything but something about watching people cast in their bedrooms with gaming headsets on just kinda feels... idk. Casters will change topics a lot, the observing won't be good, host stream constantly alt-tabbing, ctrl+shift+f following a single unit in the early game for minutes at a time... idk
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
June 29 2021 19:22 GMT
#19
My enjoyment of pro sc2 has diminished somewhat. I miss offline events because there was so much more than the games themselves for pros to deal with, such as travelling, #esportscatering, new PC setups (minus m&kb obviously), interviews in front of a live audience, all before actually playing the game itself. Always enjoyed watching players rise above the discomforts, and even enjoyed the epic collapses.

Production value is 100x better than what it was a couple years ago, so that's been impressive. I just don't get the same enjoyment from online only SC2.
TL+ Member
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-06-29 21:54:58
June 29 2021 21:52 GMT
#20
I miss community stuff like HSC and the big event like Katowice.

I'm ambivalent on the WCS/ESL kind of tournament. I have great memory of those, but if I also remember half full chairs on day 2 of a Dreamhack at 10 AM with a stage that feel way to big as everyone just goes through the motion of the various segment of interview-desk-caster-break that take considerably longer on lan, I don't especially look forward to those, I've always found it a bit depressing.

The interview have been more to my taste too, I mean absolutely no disregard to Simx, but it's nice that there's a lot more chance for casters to ask questions about more intricate SC2 stuff and the players seems a lot more wiling to open up at home. And I also feel that there's a lot more volatility online and the foreign scene was in desperate need of that for a good while.


But online play has definitely made it a bit harder to differentiate one tournament from the next. I miss having the caster together a lot, I miss the player goofing with each others between games (or just seeing them really) and I miss those late stage playoff bracket in front of a crowd, on a whole probably more positive than negative to going "back" offline.
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
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