Esports Thread (CSGO-LoL-Dota2-Overwatch-CoD-Etc.)

[Cheesehawk]

Rocket League as an e-Sport continues to grow and will be broadcast on NBC Sports all weekend. $100,000 prize pool. If you are new to the scene and are interested in watching keep your eyes on NRG, Northern Gaming, G2, The Muffin Men, and Flipsid3.

http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2017/08/02/nbc-sports-group-faceits-universal-open-rocket-league-esports-tournament-continues-this-week-with-regionals-on-nbc-sports-regional-networks/amp/

Edited August 4, 2017 by packerrfan74

[Danger]

[burlow]

group stages are over and the main event is about to begin, with a current prize pool of just under 24 million the dota 2 international is ready to begin.  Of course I am at work and will miss watching it live I will follow it and watch the good games when I get the chance to.

[skywindO2]

[LOL]

NALCS playoffs is underway with Dignitas picking their first series win against C9 this split and pulling off the upset 3-1! #DIGWIN 

Edited August 19, 2017 by skywindO2

[skywindO2]

[skywindO2]

https://clips.twitch.tv/EasyBoredCheddarPeanutButterJellyTime

[TwoToneBlue]

C9 won a major. Hell of a match against Faze.

[Raves]

13 hours ago, TwoToneBlue said:

C9 won a major. Hell of a match against Faze.

I don't want CS:GO but I follow C9 LoL and they're also 3-1 right now, only loss came at the hands to the only undefeated team currently in a close game, after being expected to take a step back this split due to roster changes.

[Mossburg]

What do you guys think is most important to sustain esport success? I personally don't really understand why some esports are so popular and others aren't.

IMO SFV is the most friendly casual esport. It has iconic characters many remember, it is incredibly visually pleasing (not just the boobs, but those are good too), there's instant urgency over and over, it's super easy to follow, and it's not hard to appreciate player skill after watching it or a while. Also seems like Capcom issues big balance changes and characters are always rotated. This should be a lot more popular IMO.

I don't fully understand why DOTA and LoL are so popular. They are absolutely brutal to follow unless you've spent at least 100s of hours playing the game. The player bases are big, but is it really all hardcores that make these the biggest esports? I feel like you can't be that big without the filthy casuals.

Rocket League is also really viewer friendly, and I actually think it's the easiest to appreciate as a "sport" because direct teamwork is so easy to identify and all the aerials skills players do are really crazy. If you played the game for like 1 hour you can appreciate all the highlight plays like you would if you played basketball for an hour. But something about it makes it so I can't watch for that long. I'll watch a random match here and there, then do something else.

More generally speaking, games like CSGO and Rocket League are more static than others, where for the most part the game remains the same. DOTA has massive character changes that make the game completely different, usher in a new meta and the game is always evolving. For that reason I don't really understand why CSGO is so popular, especially among people who have played it for over a decade, with so many other games to play, I feel like more people would have moved on. Yet CSGO's latest major posted insane viewer numbers.

SC2 for me is the most balanced esport out there. It's not as hard to follow as MOBAs, it's not static and balance changes are similar to DOTA where the game changes a ton after balance updates, the skill displayed by the players is insane, and the games don't last as long like some MOBAs where people complain that half the game there's nothing happening. But I don't understand why people move on from this game but not CSGO.

[Mossburg]

For the 1 or 2 people who follow SC2 on here, I hope you've been following this season of GSL.

Shiz has been BONKERS.

[sjfja_fkdldjs]

On 1/31/2018 at 1:34 PM, Mossburg said:

What do you guys think is most important to sustain esport success? I personally don't really understand why some esports are so popular and others aren't.

1

These are my opinions on each game you pointed out.

I would say the factor you aren't considering is how fun a game is to play. For example, fighting games are generally the easiest to understand because there are literal progress bars telling you who is winning. But in the end, the genre, in general, is not really as loved as an FPS for example. 

I think DOTA and LoL are popular for two reasons. First, the games are free. There is basically no reason to not try the games. But also, I think the audience who ends up breaking past that barrier of entry (since the games are so hard to get into) is also an audience who are more likely to enjoy a competitive scene.

I've watched VERY little of Rocket League so this is a complete guess. I think it is the opposite of Dota/LoL in that it was a very popular game, but the audience was much more casual. I also feel like the scene developed WAY too late into the game's lifespan. Lastly, maybe it's because it is too similar to sports? lol.

CS:GO just has the history behind it IMO. It's also the easiest FPS to spectate as it is a much slower paced game.

For SC2, I think goes back to my fighting game argument. RTS just isn't a popular genre at all. As a personal opinion, the games being shorter just makes the game feel more repetitive. I'll get an itch to watch SC2, but I watch one tournament then feel satisfied. Maybe there are smaller details I miss since I don't follow the game too closely, but that just changes the problem from "it's repetitive" to "it seems repetitive" lol.

I'm really curious to see how OW turns out. It still sucks as a spectator sport IMO, but the world/characters are so fun and cool. It's backed by a company that really wants to make it work. And the game is incredibly fun to play. It will be interesting to see if it has long-term success.

Now if you asked me why the MOBA genre is popular, I have NO idea why lol. 

[Mossburg]

I think SC2 is actually one of the most diverse of the "repetitive" eSports. I get what you're saying I think, about the repetitiveness of some, which is why I can't watch Rocket League that much, and MOBAs aren't that repetitive to the naked eye because there are so many different strats and characters to choose from. But SC2 is kinda like basketball and football which someone can say is repetitive because it's always just dudes trying to do the same thing the same way. Players have very distinct styles and the games themselves can be either long macro games or 4 mins cheese, and the mind game potential in a best of 3 or 5 is pretty crazy. Like Rogue last year was the most unique Zerg I've ever seen, he did all these weird 2 base attacks and was very cost efficient with his units, which is not even how the race is designed to be used.

[sjfja_fkdldjs]

Oh for sure. I would argue that any game that has a lasting competitive scene has an extreme amount of depth to it, but if that depth isn't viewable at the surface level, that depth only exists to please the hardcore viewers. I LOVED Broodwar and can still watch a lot of it, but to an untrained eye, there is only 9 possible matchups. 

Interestingly, I would say that sports are the most repetitive (compared to esports), but they combat that through physical marvels. A running play can only net 5 yards, but if the RB broke through 3 guys to do it, it is exciting. This might be where Starcraft is poor, there just isn't anything visually fancy. A player capable of dropping two bases at once while also holding off an army that is bigger than theirs is impressive, but it isn't the 100 hit combo in Marvel or the game screaming PENTAKILL in MOBAs.

Maybe this as well, Day9 loves calling Broodwar "A Game of Mistakes". The game is just too physically and mentally demanding that it is more about minimizing mistakes than it is outplaying your opponent. I'm not sure that concept carries over one to one to SC2, but I would argue the idea is still there. I don't know if this would actually affect the viewer, but it definitely doesn't sound as fun to watch seriously lol.

[Mossburg]

I think esports > regular sports in general for me now. The problem with real sports, at least most of the ones I follow outside of MMA, is it takes way too long to create urgency. Many sports there is massive urgency in anywhere from a few mins if it's SFV, or an hour or so if it's DOTA. Plus eSports have a way more superior model of viewership. I can follow things so easily on Twitch wherever I am for free and the ads are minimal. It's also SUPER easy to watch VODs if you missed anything or if it aired on another part of the globe. Plus the way Valve allows people to watch DOTA in the main client (everyone needs to do this) basically craps all over anything the NBA, NFL or anyone else can offer. Casters in most games are actually awesome, there's great banter and they're not trying to be the ultra professional generic stiffs. Add to that the fact that a season doesn't last for half a year or more as well. It's such a superior viewing experience. As esports grows, I hope it stays more like this than the mainstream crap that TV networks offer.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Mossburg

[sjfja_fkdldjs]

I need to post this somewhere.

People said Ryze was going to be insane in 8.4 and after my own version of testing, I would have to agree... Now I only really play LoL by doing custom bot matches. I just like playing with the mechanics of the champions. So I decided to try out Ryze. He can solo baron... I was full build with blue and at 30 minutes I soloed baron without using any item actives. From my own experience, the only champions that can solo baron are the crit/BT ADCs. 

I finally decided to read his Q passive on how to activate the shield and with that you can tank long enough to solo baron. That's nutty for a mage with 0 spell vamp...