December måned har ikke været god for dem, som følger med i competitive Overwatch. Udover finalen af OGN Overwatch APEX Season 1, ser det nemlig ud til, at året slutter skuffende.
December så ellers meget lovende ud med både Master Gaming Arena 2016 og MLG Vegas 2016, som sammenlagt havde en præmiesum på 1.2 millioner kr.
Master Gaming Arena 2016 – Årets værste turnering?
Med fire deltagende hold ville man ikke have forventet, at mange ting kunne gå galt ved MGA, men turneringen formåede over to dage kun at at spille ét map. Det var pga. ’tekniske problemer’, hvilket har betydet, at turneringen er blevet udsat til 2017. Den generelle håndtering af kommunikation har været enormt ringe, og udover dette statement på MSIs hjemmeside er det svært at finde information om, hvorfor turneringen er blevet udsat.
It is with regret that due to the ongoing Internet issues outside of our control, that a decision has been reached to postpone the event until a later date, we apologize to all of the Overwatch fans and community that tuned in for any inconvenience caused.
Det ser dog ud til, at problemet er hos MSI, som arrangerede turneringen, da Mitch "Uber" Leslie har skrevet dette:
Cool heads and their professional experience really showed. Without saying too much, I dont want to see them lambasted over this.
— Mitch Leslie (@UberShouts) 8. december 2016
Kyle "Phaz" Dornian fra Rise Nation gav lidt indsigt i, hvad der gik galt for turneringen på reddit, hvor hans hold fik spillet et map mod NiP før at turneringen blev udskudt til 2017.
By the way guys, we were lagging the entire time and NiP can confirm we asked for a pause pretty much instantly as the match started because Desro was frozen, but apparently they couldnt see our chats (which were filled with us and nip asking them to pause). Desro died first point instantly cuz of it, spirit pressed blade and froZe, retzi froze killing two people etc.
Just thought I'd mention it because all I see is people saying only Nip was lagging when we were lagging just as much if not more. It just happens at weird times so who knows what would of happened.
We told refs to pause multiple times they didnt know how.
Om holdene har interesse i at deltage igen, når en dato findes til at færdiggøre turneringen 2017 bliver spændende at se.
MLG Vegas – Vi vælger maps
Turneringen i Vegas er utvivlsomt for at fremvise Overwatch til mulige interesserede sponsorer og sportsklubber, og det virker desværre til, at der er blevet taget mere højde for dem end for spillerne og integriteten af turneringen. Fremfor, at holdene som normalt kan picke og banne maps, så har Blizzard simpelthen fastsat, hvilke maps der bliver spillet. Enhver, som kender til esport ved, hvor vigtigte bans og picks er. Om sådan en tilgang viser en manglende forståelse for Overwatch eller en manglende interesse i det competitive aspekt, kan man kun spekulere i..
Team Liquids Overwatch coach, Seth "Novx" Zuroff, har skrevet følgende i en tråd på reddit omkring mapsene.
You really don't want me to pipe up on this...of all people me. Everyone in the pro scene for NA (and probably some from EU) know how much work myself and some others have done to try and remedy this and honestly this just feels like a slap in the face
I samme tråd skriver Cloud9s Lucas "Mendokusaii" Håkansson:
I'm not sure why MLG would change the map pool like this if they didn't care to implement a draft. We found out 8 days before we fly out that we need to practice specific set maps. All the teams start practicing those specific maps, and now, one day before practice days ends they change the map pool completely. It definitely messed Cloud9 up and I'm sure it affected other teams as well.
It would be completely fine if they change the entire map pick system into a draft format instead, because that is something you as a team have control over, what maps you ban and pick.
Map drafting is nearly an art form and isn't just randomly picking and banning maps. It's not an easy thing to do. You have to be smart and you have to adapt your picks and bans depending on the team you're playing against.
Hell in CS:GO a lot of analysts can predict the end result of a set just based on good or bad drafts. It's a very interesting thing to have in a tournament and it allows a lot more input by analysts at the event. It's just an all around good thing to have.
Dreamhack had the best format by FAR, and this is how an extremely large majority of the competitive scene would like it to be. An actual draft system.
This allows you to ban out your weak maps or the opponents strong maps, then pick a map that you'd like to play. And then to keep banning into a last pick that determines the third map if it is played. (Maybe even 4th map in case of a map tie depending on how tournament organizers handles ties)
But changing the map pool but not the system just like this, when the system is pre determined maps that are played is a very bad thing. We've been practicing these pre-picked maps and now they change what maps we play, and thus what maps we would have needed to practice. We practiced tons of Eichenwalde to get better at it since we wouldn't be able to ban it, and now we won't play it at all.
Hopefully MLG changes their mind last second and implements a draft system.
Det er endnu et tiltag, hvor enten Blizzard forsøger at bane vejen for en anden model, end der eksisterer i esportslandskabet, eller at der simpelthen er en manglende forståelse for, hvordan esport hænger sammen.
Hvis du vil læse mere om MLG og mapdrafts, så har Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson, som lige er skiftet til Misfits fra Rogue, skrevet en længere blog omkring hans perspektiv på sagen, og den er et kig værd
Blizzard also pushed back for months to all pro OW teams+players that demanded 1 hero limit and stopwatch. The players were right of course.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) 9. december 2016
Mon ikke at 2017 kommer til at være mere opmuntrende, end hvordan 2016 nu ender. Men var man forbeholden overfor Blizzard nye Overwatch liga, så er man nok ikke blevet mindre skeptisk efter udmeldingen fra MLG.
Hvad mener du er det den rigtige model?
