[Baldie]

Official Feedback Thread

As promised here is your official way to give your thoughts on every aspect of these qualifiers be it preparation, communication, the tournament itself or anything else! Go nuts!

We here at ACLPro know a lot of things we would like to change for future seasons where there is more time for preparation. Some of those include:

- Asking for NA account names and numbers along with SEA for easier screening
- Where possible, ensuring the tournament falls outside of a fresh season to avoid demotion concerns
- Be able to seed more efficiently with an internal (but publicly accessible) WCS points system used purely for qualifier seeding
- Provide a list of registered players earlier to allow people to confirm their registrations easily
- Use WCS 2012 footage for stream fill content
- Look to secure one or more community streamers for at least Day 1 to provide airtime to more games

We appreciate all your constructive criticism but just want to make it known we had since the start of December to manage this. Moving into season 2 and 3 both Blizzard and ACLPro will have more time to prepare and thus should be able to provide a more streamlined process.

[x5_dot]

As a spectator, this tournament has been immensely entertaining to watch. I noticed very little downtime, today in particular, and when there was it was filled extremely well by Maynarde and Zepph. Whether or not everyone will enjoy their Australianisms, talk of bugs, and whatnot, I don't know. Also using the hype video, which isn't overly long, is very nice to see. As for things like stream quality I can't really say because I always have to watch on low so Jared can play with no lag.

If the issues with registration are improved I feel like this would be perfect.

Thanks Baldie for admining so well. I know you personally chased Jared up a couple times today to ensure he was ready for his next series on stream. Sorry to cause concern, he mostly watched the stream when he wasn't playing >.<

[syfRize]

I'm going to keep it short and sweet.

I have observed myself and others wanting the "AM + SEA masters or higher only!" rule changed to include KR.
As some people, as well as my self, have quite sexy ping to KR server, and SEA is pretty dead..
So.. Blizzard either adds in KR region accounts, or they revive SEA server.


EDIT: Soundwave, I don't really think qualifiers for an American tournament should include EU accounts for these reasons;
1. EU =/= SEA or AM.
2. Dumb ping.
3. EU masters is actually easy.

EDIT: It's past your bedtime Mezje.

Quick Comments

	syfSoundwave:	How about "Masters on any server"?
	MezjE:	EU masters is easy says sea gm lmaooo

[nGenLight]

Maynarde and Zepph always makes these online qualifiers a FANTASTIC experience. Knowledge, sexiness, experience, energy, hype, interacting with stream, you name it they got it.

My only problem was with both days I couldn't find a bracket until someone posted it on the stream chat. Also sticking the bracket on-screen during down-time may not be a bad idea!

Quick Comments

	syfRize:	This man knows his stuff.
	syfChadMann:	What ever happened to putting brackets in threads too?!

[eCKoa`ProzeR]

Loved the event overall, and the casting archon Zepphnarde made it even better!

Being masters above in any server would be not that bad since not all people have good ping in NA / SEA and might struggle in achieving masters or higher. I agree with the point of Light not being able to find the brackets link anywhere before having someone link it to me.

[SLCN.Wally]

Started too early in the morning is my only complaint

Quick Comments

asdfSchnitzel:

standard wally

[ShayneRarma]

Awesome event! Personally I thought the first day was a little short, due to the low numbers able to register, hopefully this will be resolved with the future planned changes Even though it was short, there were awesome games played! The Hype and entertainment value of Maynarde and Zepph is awesome. They do a brilliant job.

The second day was epic, sick games and some awesome upsets. Exactly what you want to generate that hype. I have to agree with Wally, I think a later start would be better, especially for events like Barcraft.

Overall I thought it was a great event, very little downtime, filled brilliantly by content from Maynarde, Zepph and the hype video.

Thanks again!

[mGGDaedalus]

As a casual viewer the stream was a much better experience than previous events. Not a huge amount of "filler content" but having some is a start and Maynarde and Zepph did a great job filling in time between games anyway (and there wasn't an excessive amount of downtime to begin with). Agree with Light that having a bracket on-screen in downtime would be a great addition (and maybe an ETA on next match, like IEM does).

Great job overall though, enjoyed tuning in.

[Eddie]

There were some good positive things from the weekend, but overall, i am truthfully quite disappointed

Let's start with the good

- Massive thanks to Blizzard for giving us 3 WCS seeds, very generous given the size of our region
- Really nice prizepool for a qualifier, with money going deep down to 8th place
- Fantastic casters and good stream numbers
- There were some great breakout performances on Day 1 + Day 2
- Interesting that a lot of people talk up Australia as being easily the dominant nation in the region, yet only had 2 players in the top 8
- Return of some past greats, and returns from 'retirements'

However there's a lot to be disappointed about.

For what should have been one of the biggest SC2 tournaments of the year, only rivalled really by Oseanic StarCraft 2 Championship (SCS) in terms of $'s and prestige, it fell short.

Unrealistic registration requirements.

Setting a requirement on having to be current Masters+ on SEA (rarely played server), or NA shows lack of knowledge and understanding of the SEA player base. It's fine for KR, NA + EU where those home servers are heavily populated by native nations, and they have a massive player base competing for Masters + GM leagues. The SEA scene is small, and doesn't have the same level of professionalism that the other regions have. Many of our top players work or study. There are also internet/lag issues which make certain servers extremely difficult for some people.

We know who the majority of our Masters level players are, why make them jump through hoops?
Most SEA players regularly join tournaments and get their news through SC2SEA, and can signup with a quick post. We know who they are.

Having the new ladder season reset just before your tournament wasn't ideal, and out of your control, but this also reflects why such emphasis on current league placement is an issue for SEA.

I believe there was a significant number of players who didn't make the requirement who had signed up to play, and were denied participation! Several players have come to me expressing concern about the early closure of registrations, and the above mentioned league screening process.

Another concern/query is why have ACL involved at all? They are the best in the business at running a LAN circuit, but this is an online event, focused exclusively on SC2, a game they don't really commit time and resources into. If i'm not mistaken it's Baldie doing at least 90% of the work. Why not go to him directly? He's great at what he does, i'm by no means having a shot at him, just failing to see what ACL brings to the table. I'm sure Maynarde + Zepph or any other caster don't mind what channel they cast on.

Having people signup through ACL seemed like an unnecessary process.

The turnout for stage 1 was extremely discouraging. Above mentioned signup process and league screening no doubt contributed, but to only have 41 players in an event as prestigious, high in $ value, and exposure as this is should have been, is disgraceful! 20% were no shows.

The expectation i would have set for Stage 1 would be 60 minimum, with goals for 80+. Easily achievable with promotion and the $'s and exposure which were on offer.
The result was pretty much the turnout we get for our weekly $10 Cups... So something clearly went wrong, and is probably largely attributed to the signup and screening process.

Some of this blame must fall back on the players though. The event dates and information were published clearly in advance, so that's not the issue. Given the $'s and what else was on offer, i'd expect all competitive players to have pencilled this weekend in on their calendars, set alarms, etc. Even if you're half serious about your SC2 and just in it for some fun, this was a big tournament to play in! For those on sponsored teams who didn't show, i can only imagine managers and sponsors would be disappointed. It's an online tournament, easy to play in. These guys fly you around the country to more 'casual/fun events', it's about giving a bit back to them as well. Most schools are closed over Xmas/early January so that shouldn't have been an issue, and it was held on a weekend, which is best for the majority. No doubt some people have legitimate reasons for not playing, i'm just talking about the big picture.

Day 2 seemed very rushed. I think this was a massive wasted opportunity. Piggybacking off the popularity of Blizzard, WCS, and NA, it was a great chance to showcase our top players, and make it a big day full of stories. It's an online tournament, which is very different to LAN. You don't have to power through a bracket before the venue closes. Players are at their homes, have access to food and facilities, and it's very easy for them to fill in down time.

I may be wrong, but i believe these were the only series casted:
Iaguz vs Fighto
RedArchon vs Petrify
Petraues vs RedArchon
Probe vs PiG
Probe vs Enderr
Enderr vs PiG
PiG vs KingKong x3

Why skip over so many good series?
There were no other major events competing.
You want people to stay watching as long as possible, especially at barcrafts, where there is sponsorship, and sales to be made.

You were fortunate that PiG had a fantastic comeback to draw it out to a second best of 3 series, which extended the day, but that is not always the case.
Slowing things down, allowing all players, and most series to be casted would have been a greater reflection about what the event was about, and created more hype leading into the finals. Or you could have run a second stream for greater game coverage.

-

I'm really happy for the players who qualified, and for those who had breakout performances, however i can't escape the feeling of disappointment and lost opportunity.

I really hope these issues are addressed for next time, as i know i'm not the only person to have such thoughts. I'm happy to help out or consult if the organisers/Blizzard would like my help, as i have an enormous amount of experience running SC2 tournaments, i'm not just pointing at problems and then running away. Otherwise there are others who would be keen. Get the community involved more.

Thanks for the tournament, was great for SEA, just could have been a little bit better

Quick Comments

syfChadMann:

good post, mostly agree.

[Maynarde]

Cheers for the feedback Eddie, was looking forward to the write up!

Very valid feedback but regarding day 2 we actually streamed a ro16 double elim for ~7 hours (an hour or so longer than day 1) with little to no downtime and the second we finished Proleague started so Day 2 being rushed is not something I agree with at all personally

Everything else well said and it's all definitely worth discussing, keep the great feedback coming people!

[SLCN.Kez]

I agree, there has to be a very fine balance between running long enough for good exposure but not so long you bore people and i thought u guys split the eye of the needle perfectly

[inFeZa]

A Team liquid live report thread.

[Dox]

Eddie's post was really well thought out. I was moving house over the weekend so I didn't catch any of the broadcast, but I was trying to get info on my phone periodically. It was really scarce. TeamLiquid is almost void of information which means the audience is limited to our regional pocket.

In all of the WCS 2014 TL interviews/Q&A with Kim, there was a good amount of global discussion about the Oceanic component of WCS America. Pretty sure most of the world doesn't know it even happened.

[|Erasmus|]

Speaking of TL... anyone know who to yell at over at TL to ask why there's a news article about who made it out of every single qualifier bar the SEA one?

[Dox]

I wouldn't really put that on them. As I said, they probably don't even know it's happened.

[Maynarde]

Thought I would put the link here (also like to bump this thread a bit cause more feedback the better) just sorted out the replay pack for Blizz ANZ and thought I'd share them with you guys who are interested!

Replays from all streamed games HERE.

Quick Comments

mGGDaedalus:

legend, sir!

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by Maynarde

Thought I would put the link here (also like to bump this thread a bit cause more feedback the better) just sorted out the replay pack for Blizz ANZ and thought I'd share them with you guys who are interested!

Replays from all streamed games HERE.

Thanks Maynarde! I have had a caster request permission to cast some of the WCS replays not shown on stream so I thought I would clarify for you all there are no restrictions to cast WCS games so ask the player(s) from the set you want to cast and go wild!

Also to piggyback off of Maynarde's comments keep the feedback going as the only way the team can make these events more enjoyable for you in the future is if we know what you want!

I read all posts but have chosen not to respond unless asked a direct question - however if you would like clarification on anything let me know!