[Baldie]

WCS Season 1: Oceania/SEA Qualifiers Feedback

It's that time again to think back on the weekend that just passed and provide constructive criticism/positive feedback on your experience as a player, spectator, manager etc.

This Season there were a lot of changes and firsts. It was the first time we used Battlefy as the host of the tournament from the traditional Challonge which incorporated all aspects of the tournament process (signup, bracket, check-in, streaming etc) which also meant there was no jotform for external registration. It was also the first time we used the ACL Studio to broadcast a WCS branded event with live commentary. We still have Challenger to go and we already have some changes we will be making for that broadcast but some feedback here may influence how Challenger looks and operates.

One thing to note is Battlefy is a fairly new tournament system. It is constantly evolving and the Battlefy team are really eager to hear feedback from a 1v1 PC community so please go nuts on Battlefy feedback!

Be sure to come back here when Challenger concludes to give any feedback on how that event goes as well!

[Maynarde]

Most the suggestions I would put forward were done from halfway and further but will list anyway for next week / further seasons!

1. Proper overlay for all games
2. Force red vs blue
3. Get the game sound + music at a decent volume
4. Keep caster mics in the proper position

AND AS AN EXTRA

5. Countdown timer
^ I know this is easier said than done and it's not super necessary so don't put too much time into it if you don't have a lot to spare, but even if you put like a 3 minute counter and players are ready in 30 seconds to a minute it's better for the viewers to know what is going down and when. Would be easier with next weekend as it is just 2 bo5s, both of which we already know who faces who!

Quick Comments

	ToRDjvillian:	Need more Maynard on stream.
	eCKoa`ProzeR:	Maynarde stream league: GM

[Frustration]

With batterfly i know there is a few players not just me that cant actually load the site and for that i had to get someone else to check me in and sign me up, ( I dont know if its the same for others but yeah) also i heard it runs really dam slow and people had to refresh constantly and sometimes it wouldnt reload, maybe for next wcs or future if the site is still the same if we could have challonge as the normal bracket even tho w/os are really annoying and check in helps alot its just easier for some people.

As for the tournament and time scheduel i know its 10am for you guys over east but there is a few perth players and also japanese and Sg players who had to get up at 6 or 6.30am which is quite early and you get no warm up practice so maybe in future if you could try atleast put it to 12pmaedt or 12pmaest would be a great help.

Other then that the tournament was run really well and finished in pretty good time..

Quick Comments

	ToRDjvillian:	I agree with this. Start time for some contestants seem ridiculously early.
	eCKoa`ProzeR:	I agree with the time being earlier! Would definitely help many SEA players :)

[deth]

Great format, great admin'ing, tournament ran smooth as ever for a player.

No official stream for Day 1 was confusing/disappointing, if we're wanting to show our scene to the world don't have a TL event for something that isn't going to ooze production quality.

Battlefy is a bit bloated but I didnt have too many issues with it. Seems like it made admining a lot easier and less convoluted than challonge which is a good thing. People need to be educated about how to update java/.net/flash and use correct browsers upon signing up to tournaments. - If the Battlefy admins are really on the ball, you could even alter the system to allow players to report their own results and upload replays for the series too, then admins only need to step in to address discrepancies or false reporting.

Day 2's stream had a myriad of issues in sound and mic levels as Maynarde said. The co-caster for Zepph didn't seem to have much game knowledge or any player knowledge and was flat and monotonous which was quite disappointing.

Good to see actual visual stream quality was fantastic and viewer counts were great for our scene too.

Really want to see tighter scheduling on these official streams at both on-and-offline events with a big +1 towards the suggestion of countdowns/timers on breaks to mitigate the damage they have on viewership.

I'd say this whole event is a big step in the right direction, which is really pleasant to see in a strengthening SEA environment for SC2, but there are a lot of relatively minor changes that can and should be made to make it worthy of the WCS tag.

[Blysk]

Weird that the extra price pool is still distributed to the top 4 who were already getting the challenger/ ppremier $$.
Frustration's right the hours are a little early. If I had to play stage one that would've been at 7am, like waking up for class. Slightly too early.
Battlefy for me was fine. Bracket got generated early enough for some prior warmup which is nice, and the overall system is very organised. Didn't have issues.
Love how we don't have to submit all our replays either. That's very annoying and worrying.(that builds are released etc.)

Overall well done I don't see anything wrong around here boys~

[x5_Namakaye]

Days ran really smoothly! As to be expected from the ACL crew As said above the start times were way early, LANs are fine to start early because of same time zone + usually take longer but onlines really need to start later to accommodate our friends in the GMT+8 timezones.

On the topic of brackets, from a liquipedia editors standpoint, my biggest issue was not being able to see where the matches dropped into losers. I got losers round 1 right but losers round 2 i guessed wrong and whoever was editing while i was sleeping had the fix (poor person ). Also having the winners and losers on seperate tabs made it so i needed to swap between 2 tabs periodically to update as opposed to having all the info in 1 place. Was definately not a fan ;;

overall great tournament and good luck to the challengers next week! so sad about the x5 team kill though T_T_T_T_T_T_T_T

[Eddie]

I didn't get to see many games on stream unfortunately, only the last couple of PiG v KK day 2, but look's like pulled some pretty good stream numbers. No official stream day one was a little sad.

batterfly seemed to work quite well.

ACL Studio ftw! Looking forward to seeing more next Saturday, featuring the SEA Dream Team.

Really awesome to see some Japanese guys involved.

Don't like the 10am AEDT start. For this sort of prizepool, people should keep the day clear/take off work, so running through the afternoon/evening is no issue. Starting at a time better for QLD, WA, and SEA such as 12/1pm AEDT would be fairer, and not see you running late into the night.

[Philosopher]

I really liked the set up. Not much to add, but if you need an "Unoffical" stream for Day 1, in Season 2, SEAcraft happy to help out.

[TCPLemminks]

Will Challenger league be 1st vs 2nd and 3rd vs 4th in future seasons?
Looking at the liquipedia that's what it is now.

Quick Comments

	asdfSchnitzel:	It's on WCS points from last season I think
	syfSoundwave:	its 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd atm. Points go iaguz > PiG > KingkOng > EnDerr

[syfCabracan]

On battlefy, when navigating the bracket if you drag the screen around as you would with challonge (although that just scrolls horizontally) you move the whole bracket as one big picture. Functionally it works just fine, but it makes finding the tabs confusing the first time.

[mGGDrGooSe]

This is probably the first acl event in ages that I didn't have problems with poor sound. It was balanced and not distorted. It was good to be able to keep it on the whole day because of that.

[YGTjumpu]

MightyKiwi will rek

[Baldie]

With the conclusion of WCS Oceania/SEA Season 1 Challenger please leave your feedback so we can look at ways to improve Challenger (and any flow on affect it has on Qualifiers) for Season 2!

Thanks!

[deth]

Today was awesome. Production was sublime, casting was great, any sound/mic issues were fixed quickly by paying attention to chat.

With regards to the format, if we're only having a 4 player challenger, I think it makes a lot more sense to play it out like a group GSL style.

E.G:

Pig Vs KK
Iaguz Vs Enderr
Winners Match - Winner advances to Premier
Losers Match - Loser eliminated
Final match to decide the last Premier slot.

We would get more starcraft action, makes deciding series a lot more hype (imo), and its fairer to say that the two best players advanced.

Quick Comments

	Baldie:	We originally had planned for GSL style but Blizzard HQ forced all Challengers to be b05s with 2014 WCS seeding :(
	asdfSchnitzel:	^In response to that, is that format going to continue in future seasons? Or is there possibility for change?

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by eCKo'Schnitzel

^In response to that, is that format going to continue in future seasons? Or is there possibility for change?

Not sure. When we debrief with Blizzard I will raise it as a point but ultimately it's up to Blizzard HQ to dictate terms of Challenger. Qualifiers are a pretty open book. Regardless next season PiG and Iaguz will be in Challenger and only 2 people will advance from the Qualifiers but that's the only thing 100% at the moment