[Baldie]

Big changes hit WCS Season 3 for 2014

Season 3 will follow a different format to that of previous seasons. For the first time two tournaments, one offline and one online, will seed players into WCS.

• ACL Online Round 3 in June will now transform into a WCS Online qualifier where 1st place will take a WCS seed.
• ACL Sydney LAN in July will now also offer the second WCS Season 3 seed to 1st place.

WCS Online Qualifier
ACL Online Round 3: June 14th & 15th
Register here

Alike previous seasons of WCS Qualifiers there will be an online component. However, unlike previous seasons the league requirements have been wiped. For the first time all leagues are eligible to compete regardless of server. Residential restraints still stand. Open to unlimited registrations this event will provide valuable seeding points for ACL Sydney while also providing 1st place with a seed to WCS Season 3.

+ [Tournament Details] +

Stage 1 - Online Open Qualifier Stage
Date: Saturday 14th June 2014
Time: 10.00AM - 10:30PM AEST
Server: South East Asia
Entry Fee: Free
Format: Double elimination best-of-three
Advancement to Stage 2: Top 8

Stage 2 - Round of 16
Date: Sunday 15th June 2014
Time: 1:00PM - 10:30PM AEST
Server: South East Asia
Entry Fee: Free + Prior Advancement
Format: Double elimination best-of-three

Advancement to WCS America: 1st Place

WCS Offline Qualifier
ACL Sydney: July 19th & 20th
Register here

We are excited to announce that ACL Sydney will provide the second seed to WCS Season 3 for 1st place. ACL Sydney has already shaped up to be the biggest ACL event in history and with WCS support it will only get bigger. This will be the perfect crescendo to the ACL and WCS season. Are you willing to fly to compete in the biggest LAN event in two years?

+ [Tournament Details] +

Stage 1 - Open Bracket
Date: Saturday 19th July 2014
Time: TBA
Server: South East Asia
Entry Fee: $30
Format: Double elimination best-of-three
Advancement to Stage 2: Top 8

Stage 2 - Group Stage
Date: Saturday 19th July 2014
Time: TBA
Server: South East Asia
Entry Fee: $25 + Prior Advancement
Format: Round Robin - 4 x 6 Players
Advancement to Stage 3: Top 12

Stage 3 - Championship Bracket
Date: Sunday 20th July 2014
Time: TBA
Server: South East Asia
Entry Fee: Free + Prior Advancement
Format: Single elimination best-of-three/five

Advancement to WCS America: 1st Place

Further details on everything WCS can be found on the official website: http://wcs2014.aclpro.com.au/

[Maynarde]

AaaaaaawwwwwwwwwWWWwwwwWwww sheeeeeyyiiitttttt

[Elusory]

Cool beans. Gonna work hard this month and see how far I can go in Online Round 3

[zenabi]

Sounds cool! Sucks that ACL Online Qualifier is now on both days as I can't play on Saturdays so I am gonna lose points But overall this format is really cool!

[syfInsano]

Oh wow, this is gonna be sick

[|Erasmus|]

So why are Blizzard restricting the second SEA qualifier spot to (mostly) Australians?

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by Various People

Why ACL Sydney?

While generally we have tried to keep all WCS qualifiers online to provide the most equal and accessible playing field, Blizzard HQ and all affiliated parties agreed offering one of the two seeds to the major StarCraft II tournament for our region was an acceptable trade-off. ACL Sydney will undisputedly be the largest StarCraft II event for our region for 2014, if not since WCS 2012. If we are going to have healthy local StarCraft II scene Blizzard has recognised they need to support local events and giving a seed to an event helps to do this.

We appreciate this does limit the opportunities for both our talent currently overseas and to the SEA residents. While I cannot give specifics, as suggested in earlier responses the financial and logistical input Blizzard ANZ have provided along with an array of other reasons is why this decision occurred. Please know this was something that was discussed and assessed at length.

We know there will always be people affected negatively by a location based qualifier and people who will have mixed feelings on any given situation. We just hope you can express your opinions but not let them determine your interest in season 3.

Quick Comments

x5_dot:

thanks for the clarification

[x5_dot]

Here is my opinion on this:

My first reaction was that this suckkkkkks for SEAtizens.

Rather than having equal standing and equal number of shots with those from Australia and New Zealand, this effectively restricts them to just 1. Although ACL is open to those from SEA playing in them, it is not always a viable option. To date, no one from SEA has played at an ACL (correct me if I'm wrong). Team Exile5 will be sending Rev to ACL Sydney, but not so many players from that region will be so lucky.

It was always my understanding that the 2 slots for WCS AM Challenger League were for BOTH the SEA and ANZ regions. This skews it towards the ANZ region. If this was a matter of funding (from Blizzard ANZ and not SEA) then I begrudgingly understand, but I think it takes away from the whole point of the new WCS system in the first place, which was to give small regions chances they normally wouldn't have.

P.S. Congrats KingKong for making Challenger Season 3!

Quick Comments

	Pox:	why can't i hold all these agrees
	Maynarde:	Confirmed that it is Blizz ANZ funded not Blizz SEA

[syfChadMann]

It's not blizzards fault that PiG, iaguz and Petraeus choose to travel overseas. ACL Sydney is open to everyone from SEA.. Its as expensive for someone from New Zealand or Singapore to get to Sydney as it is from Perth. They wanted to have a live tournament, someone will always miss out due to the nature of live tournaments.

P.S. KingkOng probably would have qualified (again, for the third time in a row) anyway because he's one of the best players in the region..............

[Dox]

Originally Posted by fray`ChadMann

It's not blizzards fault that PiG, iaguz and Petraeus choose to travel overseas.

fak u blazird

[syfMightyKiwi]

welp, this blows

[x5_dot]

This is not me complaining because PiG won't be playing in EITHER of the qualifiers. He understood long ago that there is a good chance he won't be able to compete in the qualifiers for Season 3. So please don't BLINDLY dump this on him.

[|Erasmus|]

Maybe it sucks just as much for someone in Perth then chadmann... the point is it's an extra barrier of entry (getting to Sydney) which is not equal for everyone. Defeats the point of being called a SEA qualifier.

Quick Comments

syfMightyKiwi:

you've got the idea!

[inFeZa]

Super excited for this. Looks amazing!

[Eddie]

Really a major step backwards i think!

Nearly restricted to only Australians (and those who can travel to and attend ACL Syd). Feel really sorry for everyone else in SEA, and those who can't make it to Sydney.

Plus there's a few of our best currently overseas trying to make a career for themselves who wont be able to attend, and others going overseas/aiming too as well.

Also ACL Sydney will not undisputedly be the largest StarCraft II event for our region for 2014. I think OSC finals will have a bigger prizepool (?) and certainly more prestige since not a LAN. If you look at upcoming ACL Brisbane, i think there will only be 6 out of the top 32 players attending, Sydney might have a couple more, but still doesn't represent regional talent. There may also be some big lans in SG, PH or Hong Kong who knows what's planned...

I feared something like this might have happened when outsourcing to an Australian focused LAN organisation.

Baldie, just wondering is this change a result of scheduling? Less work/dates to worry about?
And will you be taking the WCS Prizepool and adding to your own to inflate the LAN prize?

Only positive i guess, is ACL Sydney will have more riding on it.

Quick Comments

ThatGuyDoMo:

OSC is not a representation of regional talent at all. Your numbers are incorrect.

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by Eddie

I feared something like this might have happened when outsourcing to an Australian focused LAN organisation.

I just want to firstly state that ACL's involvement in WCS qualifiers has absolutely nothing to do with Blizzard's decision to attach themselves to ACL Sydney. With all due respect if you can think of a more appropriate Oceania/SEA event in 2014 to attach to which fits within the WCS qualifier time-period, which has a production level cleared by Blizzard HQ, from an organisation with long term brand recognition and credibility - please let me know.

Originally Posted by Eddie

Baldie, just wondering is this change a result of scheduling? Less work/dates to worry about?

As stated in my first response "If we are going to have a healthy local StarCraft II scene Blizzard has recognised they need to support local events and giving a seed to an event helps to do this." It has nothing to do with scheduling.

Originally Posted by Eddie

And will you be taking the WCS Prizepool and adding to your own to inflate the LAN prize?

The WCS Prizepool is still being confirmed but I can confirm that ACL already has a set allocation and if Blizzard decides to place some of it's WCS prizepool on top, that is purely their decision.

I would also like to remind you that Oceania/SEA is the only region to have a prizepool attached to their WCS qualifiers. You can thank Blizzard ANZ for that - just don't take it as the norm.

Quick Comments

syfChadMann:

Good response Baldie, totally agree. :)

[Eddie]

Blizzard ANZ do fantastic work, no doubt about it

I don't see the need to attach to any existing event though...

Our region isn't like others, we are so spaced out, that LANS can never be a true representation of who is the best. Not many can even attend.

It's probably good for the Australian LAN circuit no doubt (shame some of our best are overseas, but out of your control), but i'd like to think something as big as a WCS spot should be open to all our region.

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by Baldie

I just want to firstly state that ACL's involvement in WCS qualifiers has absolutely nothing to do with Blizzard's decision to attach themselves to ACL Sydney. With all due respect if you can think of a more appropriate Oceania/SEA event in 2014 to attach to which fits within the WCS qualifier time-period, which has a production level cleared by Blizzard HQ, from an organisation with long term brand recognition and credibility - please let me know.

The first two seasons ran fine without being "attached" to any other event. From the sounds of Blizzard HQ "agreeing to it" it was you guys who asked them to attach it to your LAN event, which sure sounds like a conflict of interests to me given how it affects a lot of players in the region outside of the Australia part of ACL... Kind of like if ESL tried to get the qualifier spots given to their IEM events.

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

The first two seasons ran fine without being "attached" to any other event. From the sounds of Blizzard HQ "agreeing to it" it was you guys who asked them to attach it to your LAN event, which sure sounds like a conflict of interests to me given how it affects a lot of players in the region outside of the Australia part of ACL... Kind of like if ESL tried to get the qualifier spots given to their IEM events.

This is speculation. I'm only a caster and not involved behind the scenes but I do speak to PJ from Blizz ANZ reasonably often and he has always said since the beginning of the WCS Oceania / SEA qual announcement that they wanted to have a qualifier at a live event from the beginning.

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

The first two seasons ran fine without being "attached" to any other event. From the sounds of Blizzard HQ "agreeing to it" it was you guys who asked them to attach it to your LAN event, which sure sounds like a conflict of interests to me given how it affects a lot of players in the region outside of the Australia part of ACL... Kind of like if ESL tried to get the qualifier spots given to their IEM events.

You can read into it and make as many assumptions as you want. I'm not going to entertain that question. This was never about attaching to something because it was necessary. Blizzard saw this as an opportunity to support the local scene through local tournaments and have decided to follow that. Period.