Is Starcraft 2 facing a serious crisis?

Personally we do not feel that Starcraft 2 is facing a crisis, but there is currently so much talk about the state and future of Starcraft 2 as a game that it's actually insane.

Two days ago it practically exploded when Destiny submitted this post on Reddit:

Starcraft 2 will be dead long before Legacy of the Void if Blizzard doesn't change its course

Most of what he is saying is undoubtable very interesting and impossible to ignore.

One of the issues he discusses is the fact that Starcraft 2's design is focused a lot on hardcore competitive 1v1 laddering, and that this is a major problem because most casual gamers aren't interested in this type of gaming.

In his opinion this is one of the main reasons why Starcraft 2 quickly will lose to games like LoL and DotA.

Destiny doesn't really offer any solution, but concludes that it's up to Blizzard to take drastic measures. Or else he sees no way of SC2 surviving.

With this rather depressing post in mind it was nice to see that Grubby today posted a list of suggestions that he feels could help improve SC2 as a game and the community in general.

This was based on his own thoughts along with the responses he got after inviting everyone on Teamliquid.net to give their takes on the problems that SC2 faces. Especially with regards to what he called "viewership tournament fatigue".

Grubby's Manifesto on SC2 eSports

There are a lot of interesting points and suggestions in his post and it is certainly worth a read.

It's also interesting to see how Destiny and Grubby show quite opposing viewpoints when it comes to having faith in Blizzard. And this is generally something a lot people in the community disagree on.

Does Blizzard listen to the community at all?

In the newest episode of State of the Game which came out yesterday JP McDaniel, Root.Tod, D.Apollo and Col.QXC also discuss Destiny's post and the problems SC2 is facing in general.

At some point while airing, JP was able to confirm that Blizzard has apparently noticed all that's been going on, and that they've agreed to meet with some notable people from the community and discuss the game.

Announcement on State of the Game

This discussion will most likely center around ideas for improving Heart of the Swarm, but hopefully they will also get a chance to discuss the game in general.

Yesterday Artosis also posted his opinion on the state of Starcraft 2 as a game, especially with regards to all the criticism of Heart of the Swarm.

Artosis discusses Heart of the Swarm

In his opinion Starcraft 2's survival isn't threatened, as he sees it as the best and most complex game in the world, and he also concludes:

I listened to people decreeing the end of SC1 from 2002 until 2010 (when the SC2 Beta was finally released). They were all wrong, and anyone talking about it now is wrong too.

We agree that Starcraft 2 is still a fantastic game, and that it offers something that no other games offer.

And perhaps it does not need to appeal to as many gamers and viewers as for instance LoL, in order to continue thriving on it's own terms.

But at the same time there are no doubt a lot of problems facing SC 2 and the community surrounding it.
The number of gamers and viewers is crucial when it comes to how much money the game generates. And the amount of money that the game generates is equal to how much work Blizzard will put into continuously trying to improve the game.

So naturally it's relevant to discuss ways to attract more gamers and viewers and hopefully Blizzard can find some good ways of doing it in the future.

Predictions for GSL semifinals

Tomorrow it's time for the GSL semifinals and here are who their GSL statistics say will move on to the finals!

The first match is between LG-IM_Mvp (!) and SKtelecom_Rain (also (!) and (omg, it will be INSANE)).
Mvp has a win rate of 70,4 % against protoss so this is, on paper, his best matchup. Rain has a crazy win rate of 80 % against terran. It has has to be said though, that Rain has only played 6 official matches in the GSL.

The second semi-final will be between Liquid_TaeJa and StarTale_Life.
TaeJa has a 72,2 % win rate against zerg while Life has a win rate of 62,5 % against terran with it being his least favorite matchup statistically. But Life hasn't played that many GSL matches against Terran yet, and generally he actually owns this matchup as well.

So according to the GSL statistics we will see Rain and TaeJa move on to the finals, but will that actually be the case? We say: "no idea whatsoever" and look forward to tomorrow. They all play insanely well at the moment and we are sure that the matches will all be "the best series we've seen in the GSL. EVER." According to Tastosis anyway.

If someone threatened us with a big gun and forced us to pick who we were rooting for we would have to say Rain and Life. They have impressed us the most this season and deep down we think that they will be this season's finalists.

GSL RO 8 - Rain vs. Hero and Mvp vs. Symbol - RECAP

Rain vs. Hero (Best of 5)

Set 1 - Entombed Valley (Rain in bottom right and Hero in top right)

Hero went for early DTs and was able to take out Rain's natural expansion while getting his own up. The game transitioned into a longer game where both players got up to three bases and went for Colossi tech with 2 robos each. Hero tried some more DT harass, but not with great success.

In general Rain's robos were faster though and his production slightly ahead of Hero's and when they finally engaged, Rain had 1 more Colossus and 3-4 more Immortals than Hero. 
In the engagement Rain simply positioned and controlled his army much better and by attacking from two angles he was able to comfortably win the engagement and take the set. 1 - 0

Set 2 - Abyssal City (Rain to the right and Hero to the left)

Both focused on blink Stalkers in the early game on and then transitioned into robo tech. Rain was able to blink into Hero's main and take out his robo once again gaining a lead in the robo production.
Eventually they both went up to double robo and three bases as well.
At some point Hero managed to take a small revenge and blink into Rain's main and take out one of his robos.

This game also went late game (two PvP macrogames in a row!!!) and they both got their fourth base up with Rain though being ahead on his, as well as on upgrades. After the game went a bit back and forth for a while the game in the end came down to a big final engagement around the 32-minute mark. This time Rain had 3 more Colossi and 1-2 more Immortals than Hero and once again Rain looked a lot better in the engagement, controlling his Immortals and Colossi fantastically and he took the set. 2 - 0

Set 3 - Daybreak (Rain in the top right and Hero in bottom left)

Hero went for some early 3-gate stalker pressure into robo whereas Rain went directly for early Robo meaning that his robo was once again ahead of Hero's.
Hero's 3-gate pressure was pretty much a failure as Rain trapped his stalkers with forcefields and took them out with his immortal supported army.

They both expanded and went for robotics support bay, but once again Rain was ahead on both things.
Around the 12-minute mark when Rain's first Colossus was finished he pushed out and Hero tried to defend by using immortal/warp prism micro, but it backfired as he lost the warp prism with an Immortal in it, and eventually Rain rolled him over and claimed the set as well as the series in dominating fashion. 3 - 0

General thoughts on Rain vs. Hero

All in all a really cool and unique PvP series that showed us that the best Protoss players in the world are finally figuring the matchup out. Especially the two first sets that gave us some heavy late-game PvP action.

The series was however pretty one-sided with Rain clearly looking better in all the engagements and with regards to the build orders as well.

Hero made some small mistakes here and there, which might have been due to his infamous nerve-issues, but in the end there was no doubt about who the better player was today.

Rain lived up the hype and he definitely has a good shot at becoming the next GSL champion!

Rain vs. Hero = 3 - 0

Mvp vs. Symbol (Best of 5)

Set 1 - Abyssal City (Mvp to the right and Symbol to the left)

Their opening builds were something like this:

Symbol: Hatch first > Pool > Gas > Zerglingspeed > 3rd Hatch > Roach Warren > Roach-production
Mvp: CC first> Rax > Factory > Starport > Techlab > Bunker > 3rd CC > Cloak > Banshee-production

Mvp tried different kinds of Banshee+Hellion harass some of which worked pretty well with him for instance killing Symbol's roach warren and around 10 drones.
The game transitioned into mid and late game with both of them taking additional bases and Mvp going heavy mech and Symbol aiming for a broodlord/infestor composition.
Meanwhile they both did different kinds of harass like Mvp killing overlords with vikings and Symbol doing effective zergling run-by into Mvp's third.

Eventually Mvp grabbed a fourth base and then pushed and took out Symbol's fifth. Symbol retook the fifth while Mvp took his sixth.
Symbol used burrowed Infestors to take out Mvp's sixth with infested terrans, but at the same time Mvp pushed and took out the fifth and fourth of Symbol.

Symbol tried to retake some bases, but Mvp denied all his attempts and eventually starved Symbol out forcing him to a final engagement just before the 30-minute mark. Symbol though had no way of breaking the scary fully upgraded mech army with his inferior remaining forces which consisted of mainly Infestors, so Mvp took the set. 1 - 0

Set 2 - Daybreak  (Mvp in top right and Symbol in bottom left)

Symbol went hatch first again and this time Mvp tried some bunker aggression at his natural. Symbol scouted it and pulled lots of drones though and denied the aggression, and from there both focused a bit on their economy. Symbol went up to three hatcheries and Mvp took his natural while getting a third CC in his main.

This game Mvp went for bio+hellions with double e-bay and Symbol geared up for a heavy early/mid-game all-in with Roaches/Banelings/Zerglings.
Around the 9-minute mark Mvp evacuated his natural after scouting Symbol's incoming attack. Mvp tried getting bunkers up in his main, but Symbol broke open the wall with banelings and eventually overran Mvp's main with zerglings and roaches winning Symbol the second set. 1 - 1

Set 3 - Antiga Shipyard (Mvp in bottom left and Symbol in top right)

Symbol went hatch first, zergling-speed, 3rd hatch and then a roach warren whereas Mvp went CC first and from there went for reactor'd hellions + banshees and eventually a 3rd CC as well.

They both tried harassing each other in different ways as the game transitioned into mid-game with Mvp trying a number drops, most of which were deflected immediately by Symbol, who on the other tried a few run-bys with zerglings which Mvp deflected as well.

Eventually Mvp pushed across the map with a Marine/Tank force, but Symbol defended well in the center with nice fungals followed by banelings. About a minute later though he threw away 4 Infestors for nothing when he tried to do a counter-attack.

Mvp then pulled of a quick and effective push that took out Symbol's third, while wisely adding 2 extra starports anticipating that Symbol was going for quick Broodlords.
Symbol took a fourth the top left corner and a fifth in the bottom right corner, but when Mvp finally pushed towards Symbol's main the poor Zerg player was far behind in supply and didn't really stand a chance.
He had a few broodlords and landed some good fungals, but that was nowhere near enough and Mvp took the set. 2 - 1

Set 4 - Ohana (Mvp in top left and Symbol in bottom right)

Symbol went for some semi early 2-base 9 roach aggression that could have potentially dealt a lot of damage as Mvp quickly had taken his natural as well as built a 3rd CC in his main. Mvp however scouted it just in time to lift up his natural and get a bunker down on top of the ramp to his main.
Symbol's roaches fried some of the repairing SCVs, but eventually got cleaned up.
A short while later Mvp went for a counterattack with around 7 hellions and he killed some drones, but neither of their initial attacks had done that much damage.

From there they both took their third bases with Mvp though clearly being in control of the game.
Mvp simply showed great macro skills and while they were both on three bases he quickly got ahead of Symbol in supply. Mvp also did some annoying drops while eventually pushing with Tanks/Marines and taking out Symbol's third. Symbol retook it, but in the meantime Mvp already had his fourth up and running.

In this game Symbol had once again gone for a pretty quick hive this time though going for a Infestor/Ulralisk composition. Once again Mvp denied Symbol's attempts to get a fourth or fifth base while Mvp himself got an insane amount of production facilities.
Symbol was eventually forced to do a big engagement in the center and he did clean up Mvp's forces, but Mvp already had a new army in production whereas Symbol himself could in no way keep up with the production.

In the end Mvp practically just kept sending units towards Symbol's base and Symbol could not withstand and was forced to GG. 3 - 1

General thoughts on Mvp vs. Symbol

In general this series was rather one-sided as well. And even though there were a lot of times were Mvp wasn't exactly dominating, you still never got the chance that Mvp was truly threatened. Especially since Symbol's only win came with his baneling bust.

Watching the series it was very apparent just how much more experienced Mvp is. At least in the sense that he just always looked so damn well-prepared when he plays the GSL, and that is pretty important in a tournament where players always have time to prepare.

In conclusion Mvp doesn't seem to be tired of winning and the semifinal between him and Rain will probably be the toughest series that has ever been played in SC2.

Mvp vs. Symbol = 3 - 1

Recommended games of the day:

Set 2 between Rain and Hero 

Set 1 between Mvp and Symbol



Finally for some light humor in the end.

Between the two series Artosis made the joke that he thought Matrix 2 was better than Matrix 1! Tasteless didn't get that it was a joke instantly and we'll leave you with the bewildered look on Tasteless' face as he for a second or two thought that his best friend was actually a complete retard...

Thoughts on Tasteless' casting

Let me start by saying that I am and have been a huge fan of Tasteless' casting ever since the first time I heard him cast. His great sense of humor combined with his relaxed style of analysis was a big part of what got me into watching Starcraft 2.

Lately though I haven't enjoyed his casting quite as much, and I've actually heard the same from a lot of other people.

In my opinion this is a terrible shame since I believe he has the exact skills needed in order to draw new viewers to SC2.

It's been obvious for some time that Tasteless' analytical knowledge of the game in many ways is quite inferior to that of Artosis, and many other casters.

In my opinion this is not the problem though, cause Tasteless has never seemed to be as analytical as for instance Artosis, but instead has had his own more casual style, which is also part of what makes them a great combo.

Lately though it has felt even more like Tasteless simply isn't keeping up with the constant strategic developments of the game, making his analysis often seem irrelevant or simplistic, at least to all us hardcore SC nerds.

At the same time though it feels like Tasteless has been somewhat aware of people's criticism against him not being analytical enough. In my opinion this has caused him to spend a lot of time stating useless strategic stuff or repeating Artosis' analysis when casting.

And this gets me to my main point.

Tasteless is in my opinion one of the absolute most grounded and interesting guys in the entire community (without knowing him in real life of course).

To me he actually seems to rest within himself A LOT more than many other prominent people (including players, casters, bloggers and so forth) in the community.

This is also a big part of what makes him seem like such an appealing caster and human being.

I also believe that this is why his jokes, analogies and stories have always seemed so funny in an original way that few people can copy without seeming extremely fake.

The skills that Tasteless possesses are in my opinion extremely valuable in a niche community like SC2, which it in a lot of ways still is.

In fact I believe he is one of the people that actually has what it takes to truly push the game towards becoming mainstream entertainment.

And the problem is that this entire discussion isn't adressed enough.

A lot of people and players often just criticize Tasteless of being a bit analytically incompetent, but I think the community, as well as Tasteless himself, needs to start realizing the necessity and beauty of just being entertaining when casting.

In my opinion Tasteless should just focus a lot less on complicated analysis and a lot more on entertaining the viewers.
On "Real Talk" Tasteless himself says that Artosis and him used a lot of energy on preparing jokes or comical stories when they started working for GomTV (Interview with Tasteless on Real Talk).

I think he should focus on this as he really is one of the few people that can do so without being a complete phony.
Which is partly due to him actually being able to make fun of himself and not always needing to seem "cool" when he is on camera.

If the Starcraft community is to keep expanding it's reach for non-playing Starcraft viewers, then the perfect style of casting would be one that truly incorporated both entertainment and the analytical side.
For instance by having one really analytical caster, and one really entertaining caster who could perhaps then also explain the game to noobs.

I know some people often compare Starcraft casters to casters of other established sports, and with this in mind state that SC casters must be serious and analytical in order for the scene to appear professional.

But the truth is that Starcraft is a lot different from most sports and also a lot more complicated to newcomers. Besides, most casters of other sports are in my opinion quite boring compared to most SC2 casters.

I believe the generation that watches SC2 in some ways are a lot more culturally developed, especially with regards to incorporating humor in everything they do.
Therefore SC 2 should of course also represent this when it comes to casting.

I could go on rambling about this forever but I won't.

The truth is that I have an insane amount of respect for Tasteless and I feel pretty sure that he will always cast in the way that he feels the most comfortable with.

But I just think it's a shame if people eventually grow tired of his casting simply because of his analytical flaws, when in truth, he might exactly have what is needed for this community to grow.

Tasteless should just allow this side of himself to flourish on camera simply by not holding himself back.
Perhaps he should even spend some more energy on preparing "jokes" or "analogies", since they actually often end up giving a healthy perspective to the game.

But that's just my opinion anyway...

BabyKnight vs. Ret (WCS Europe Finals - round 3)

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

We just witnessed an epic 3rd round series between FXOBabyKnight and LiquidRet!
Apart from being a series between two of our absolute favorite foreigners we also had the pleasure of watching a BabyKnight series being casted by our favorite casting duo Tastosis, which was something we do not believe has happened earlier. At least we haven't witnessed it before.

1st set on Taldarim Alter.

BabyK went for a economic pylon-nexus-pylon opener and Ret of course also did a very macro-orientated build as he always does.
Ret quickly got up to three bases and around 75 drones.
BabyK did a small push on Ret's third but it was only a small push that he didn't invest a lot in.
While he did this he took his own third and also got a dark shrine and some other tech.
Babyknight also had a neat couple of gateways on top of his ramp outside his natural so that Ret would be able to do a run-by into his natural.
Babyknight send two DTs in the natural and main of Ret.

He killed some drones but didn't really do much damage, and BabyK didn't warp in more.
Instead he focused on getting some archons and a lot of gateway units in general.
Ret took his fourth but Babyk scouted the exact timing of it with an observer.
From there Ret went up to 95 drones (which was maybe a bit too many) and also started building some spinecrawlers at his fourth.
BabyKnight pushed at Ret's fourth when he was around 160 supply.
Ret did have infestors but not any broodlords yet.

BabyK used perfect forcefields and good blink micro and was able to win the big engagement at Ret's fourth.
From here BabyK could take out Ret's fourth and move on into his third and Ret could do nothing to stop him.


2nd set on cloud kingdom.

Ret did his usual macro opener quickly going up to three hatcheries.
At first it looked like BabyKnight would do a somewhat similar build as in game 1 with a quick +1 attack upgrade.
He cancelled this upgrade however and went for a stargate instead.
The stargate however was pretty late, and from this point on he actually looked a bit flustered.
Like he had originally intended one build and then changed his mind without really being sure if this was the right call or not.
He never did any real damage with his void rays or phoenixes either.
He tried to take his third but Ret denied it and Ret actually kept denying it for a long time.

BabyK then started producing Colossi but they were very late as well and Ret was already taking his fifth base.
BabyKnight was finally able to take his third, but he then cancelled it and went for 2-base all-in instead.
At this point though Ret's supply was way bigger than BabyK's.
And as it turned out Ret had far too much and no micro could save BabyK's army whose big push was never able to truly threaten Ret.

And since it was a BIG all-in BabyK was forced to GG.
So the series was tied and at this point we were almost shitting our pants on BabyK's behalf.
Going on to the third and deciding match must have been pretty damn nerve-wrecking.
For both of them of course, but since Ret is a lot more experienced he will certainly have tried more situations like this the past.


3rd match was on Ohana

Once again it was a very quick +1 attack for BabyKnight again.
At the same time he was setting up for a very economic build preparing to take his third quite early.
Ret once again did his usual macro style, and you gotta hand it to that guy. He never cheeses!
They both macro'd up for a while with BabyKnight getting his third and Ret getting his fourth both relatively unharassed.
Eventually when Ret was at max supply and Babyknight was around 150, BabyK tried to move out on the map to try and pressure at Ret's fourth.
But Ret at hidden a big bunch of zerglings that he sneaked into BabyK's third and natural just after BabyK had left the base.

BabyK managed to return and clean them up pretty fast, but not without taking quite a lot of damage.
He then moved out again and at this point Ret was nearing completion on his greater spire so he desperately wanted to delay BabyK's push until he could get broodlords out.
Therefore he tried to do another run-by with zerglings but this time BabyK had expected it and he took them out immediately.
He was then finally able to move out for his long awaited push.
Because Ret was at max supply and because he needed his corrupters against BaByK's colossi, Ret didn't morph any broodlords.
At the first big engagement it was actually pretty hard to see who would come out on top for a long time, but BabyK used perfect forcefields and micro with his Colossi to deal massive damage.

Ret then did a new run-by with zerglings that killed a lot of probes at BabyKs third.
BabyK cleaned it up eventually and at this point in the game Ret had a lot more workers than BabyK but having won the engagements BabyK's army was way scarier.
BabyK then pushed at Ret's fourth and Ret's weaker army could not stop this push so he lost his fourth.
BabyK had also re-saturated his third again so their economy was similar, both of them being on three bases with their mains being pretty much dry.
BabyK then went for a big push outside Rets third and at this point Ret actually build a bit too many corrupters.

He was able to take out BabyKs colossi easily but BabyK had quite a big ground army that Ret didn't have an answer to.
So when BabyK kept bringing new gateway units, all of Ret's corrupters were rendered useless.
In the end Ret tried to pull out all his drones but that was in no way enough to stop BabyK's army who thus took the game and the series.
And what a freaking amazing series!!!

FXOBabyKnight vs. LiquidRet = 2 - 1

Congratulations to BabyK who has now secured his spot in the WCS world finals in Shanghai!

The feeling of relief that must have gone through BabyK's body when he was finally able to take off his headphones and fathom that he had actually made it to the WCS world Finals must have been undescribable.

In the interview after the game BabyK once again proved that he is no entertainer nor salesman. 

But the questions that were thrown at him were fucking retarded so his taciturnity was understandable and in our opinion actually made him seem even cooler.

I mean what kind of retarded question is, "If you were a car what color would you be?".

Can't believe he was actually asked that.

Anyway. Now BabyKnight can play the rest of his games at the WCS Europe finals without pressure as he has surely reached the goal he must have been aiming for. 

We wouldn't mind him taking a top3 though, so we'll keep cheering for him.

Debate about casters

It's obvious that there's been a growing tendency among many StarCraft 2 players (professionals as well as amateurs) to criticize casters for not being analytically competent enough. Personally we believe that this discussion is crucial to the community, but that this specific viewpoint is in some ways very damaging to the development of the game.
Basically we believe that many of these players aren't seeing the big picture, and that it's important that they do. Especially all the professional players out there because their voices are heard the loudest.

We believe StarCraft 2 can be watched by anyone. This game is brilliant entertainment and this is of course primarily due to the numerous great strategic aspects of the game.
However if the game is to become mainstream entertainment then the casters have a central role to play. And even though it's important that the casters know a lot about the game and all the constant strategy developments and so forth, we believe that it's just as important that the casters show charisma and great sense of humor.
The reason for this is that StarCraft 2 will not, and should not have millions of professional gamers. However it could and should have millions of viewers. And most of these viewers will not, and should not be experts in the game. So in order to catch the attention of all these people it's essential that the casters aren't F-king boring or pretentious. No matter how strategically competent they are.

That's also why we feel that casters shouldn't be trying to impress the professionals that are watching but instead aim to entertain everyone else. This is truly how StarCraft 2 can be spread to everyone.

The way we got really hooked on watching competitive Starcraft 2 was when we by chance saw a GSL final casted by Tastosis in early 2011. At the time we didn't know much about the game except what we had learned from playing it on the ladder (which means nothing).
What got us hooked was of course the impressive stuff that the players were doing. But more than that, is was the enthusiasm and humor that Artosis and Tasteless constantly expressed.
It felt so unique the way that they were able to illustrate beautiful strategic maneuvers, and at the same time talk about all kinds of random shit that was funny in so many ways.
Since then we have watched pretty much every game that Tastosis has casted, plus of course a ton of other games from tournaments around the world.
By now we are of course deeply interested in the specific strategic developments of the game but we still prefer charismatic casters over the analytical ones.
However, the best casters are of course both charismatic and analytical.

Anyway. If you know A LOT about StarCraft 2 then you will often hear stuff the casters say that you do not agree with. Furthermore you will notice stuff that the casters fail to mention. But viewers who are professionals or expert ought to be a minority. Most viewers (if SC 2 is to become mainstream entertainment) aren't gonna be experts and that's an important fact to remember when judging casters.

We think that many StarCraft 2 casters are so much more talented and entertaining than most other sports commentators, especially when it comes to casting with enthusiasm and personality. And it's important that the community acknowledges that.
The casters are a big part of what makes competitive StarCraft 2 so unique and also what makes it a sport that could be destined for massive success among even the masses sometime in the future.

What we're trying to say is that casters should be judged not only by knowledge of the game but also by the ability to make the game even more entertaining.
It's cool to see the way that StarCraft 2 is getting more and more professional at every event. For instance all the analysis took place at this weekend's MLG Summer Arena really made it seem like a legit and serious sport like football or whatever.
BUT we believe that Starcraft 2 can be much more than that. It can be a sport and a community that manages to constantly shine with magnificent enthusiasm and at the same time express an endless amount of original humor and self irony. 

In our 1 and a half year of watching SC 2 we've heard so many funny comments and jokes by Tastosis, Day 9, Husky or other funny casters, and we will remember many of these comments for years. That's pretty damn awesome and one of the unique aspects that we believe puts Starcraft 2 miles ahead of so many other competitive sports.

That's our opinion anyway. What do you think?