Some Review of WCS 2013, and my Thoughts on WCS 2014 Plans

In case you did not know, Blizzard released their plans for their World Championship Series (WCS) for two thousand and fourteen. Fans, players and hecklers alike were in anticipation of this news, particularly if any nationality or residency requirements would be introduced to help prevent the mess that was the WCS America region where they top eight throughout three separate seasons had only one person native to North America, (a Canadian) tying it with Australia and Norway for the year. 

Blizzards first step to fixing this problem is allocate the number of spots available for challenger league qualifiers (The tournament that funnels into premier, the highest league.) shall be limited to certain numbers based on nationality. fifty percent of qualifier spots are guaranteed to those who call North America their home, (whether by birth or legal residency) while only two will be available to their main competition, South Koreans, and even those sports are actually wildcards open to anyone. If you are wondering, while 1 Canadian made the top eight over three seasons, eighteen Koreans made their way to the top eight, possessing 75% of the top spots, and always claiming the title and runner up spots. This will probably prevent many Koreans from making their way up to premier league spots, while giving many more North Americans opportunity to attempt to make the jump. 

However, these changes do not affect the seven Korean players already seeded into Premier via their previous seasons performance, nor does it affect the Twelve Koreans who will be looking to make the jump to premier in the challenger league best of five matches that will take place early next year. It is highly likely unless several Koreans are matched against their countrymen that we will still be seeing as many as 16 Koreans in premier league, and with the new format, it will be difficult to remove them. WCS America looks to remain GSL* lite for the time being. 

You will notice I have not mentioned how this change will affect Europe`s own WCS competition. This is because Europe does not have the problem of being totally overrun by Korea. While it is true that the top 4 spots are still very Korean, there has been at least one European in the top 4 each season. There was even a French player who made the finals in season one! (RIP in peace Stephano) 

What has kept Europe safe from the invasion though? Are Europeans just better players and therefore more capable of repelling the coming invaders? while I do think Europe is ahead of North America overall, that's not really what kept them safe. The almighty wall that is Europe to Korea lag has kept them much safer than their own level of play. Harsh lag has made it very difficult for Korean players to surge forth in the 2013 year, and its simply not cost effective for the Korean teams to send their players over to Europe just to attempt to qualify for a tournament now is it? Most of the Koreans that made deep runs in WCS Europe were part of European teams where it made sense to bring them to Europe to play. Only IM.MVP (who won a season) and MVP.duckdeok (also won a season) were members of Korean based teams and also made deep runs into WCS Europe. 

To close my thoughts somewhat randomly. I think Europe looks to be in a good spot for WCS. North America might need some more time before they are able to showcase North American talent. At least there's some hope so the NA players will continue to try. Also did not mention the changes to the Korean region. Going to be good to have GSL back, looking forward to staying up way to late many nights to watch it again. Peace out!

Hopefully this guy and win a tourney soon. Couple of 1st places would solidify him as the best in the world. 

Change of Plans Folks!

               Right, so I’m going to go ahead and change up the summer goal deal. I’m only changing the goals in regards to gaming so really no one ought to care much for it. Originally I set out to complete a run through of Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker and reach Diamond rank in Starcraft II. While it’s defiantly not that far out of reach to complete this, (Ocarnia of Time already done, Wind Waker can probably be complete in a single day with some dedication and a red bull and I finished Top 8 in platinum for the previous ladder season of Starcraft, which is basically as close to diamond you can get without actually making it.) I've decided it’s not really what I want from my gaming experience right now.  

               What do I mean when I say that’s not what I want from a gaming experience right now? Simple really, I play games for one of two reasons. First being I like becoming immersed in a new world and all of the cool details that go along with it. That normally lies within a Single player game when the narrative or game play is the driving feature. The Second reason is that I’m competitive and I can win at them. This is where Starcraft and League of Legends come in, and at the moment it’s really all I've been playing, and I’m getting increasingly more frustrated every time I play them. I play games because I enjoy them, and in reality I’m just not enjoying games like Starcraft or League right now. So I’m taking an indefinite break from them until I feel like I've “ Calmed the freak down.”

My average face while playing League, Witnesses can confirm unfortunately.  

               My plan to calm down is going to come by rediscovering the first reason I play games. I've always greatly enjoyed the experience of becoming part of a completely different world. That’s why I particularly love games like Mass Effect, Skyrim, Dragon Age, and The Legend of Zelda. They are all these fantastical worlds that simply don’t exist in reality but are very interesting to explore and learn about. So for the time being I’m going to focus on playing single player games and trying to remember why I love games in the first place. It’s like a good movie really, because you kinda forget that you’re just a viewer or player and simply become part of the world. It’s partially why I like games so much, just by the very nature of you participating in a game makes them feel more immersive. You know? Maybe not, but it’s true.

               Taking a break from games like League does leave me in a mild dilemma though, how on earth am I supposed to help my friend Seth with his not sure if serious or not idea of making a gaming Youtube channel if I’m not playing the leagues with him? Let’s play’s? Come on, no one really wants to watch someone like me with no presence in any gaming community play through what can easily be a 20 hour game like Mass Effect. So with the power of editing I plan on making simple highlight stuff. Parts of games that I think people need to know why they make those games good. Maybe look at freak out about how dumb I think that game design has changed so dramatically in the past twenty years. (It’s no actually dumb, it’s just be being a baby.) Who knows what’ll happen, I know it’ll be fun though. That’s why I’m doing it. Also the rare chance for dat YouTube money obviously.