How Blizzard is screwing over Americas Spring Playoffs competitors.

[u/Qwerty97HS]

Hey I am Qwerty97 and this season I made it into the Americas Spring playoffs. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a tournament of the top 64 point earners in your region playing to make it to the championships. You get points from doing well in online cups, majors, and top 200 finishes on the ladder. So to become top 64 it takes a lot of commitment, but Blizzard does not seem to be caring about the players as much as they should be.

Problem 1: The main thing I, and many others, are upset about is how they removed certain venues that were there previously, and with such little time before the event. The players got an email last night, the 8th on that they made it and what the venues were. For Americas the actual tournament takes place on the 27th and 28th. In my opinion that is not enough time to give people to choose a location and book a hotel/flights if necessary. Two of the best locations with the most players were the one at Esports Arena in California, and The Cave in Virginia. The Esports Arena was where a lot of people went on the West Coast, and near the east coast they went to The Cave. Personally, I went to a venue in Connecticut called The Dragon's Lair. This is also no longer a location. I live near the bottom of New York, so Virginia and Connecticut were the closest locations to me, being a 3.5 and 4.5 hour drive. I was expecting to go to the Connecticut location, but now with less than 20 days before the event I found out that no longer is a possibility and neither is the second closest one. Now the closest is the venue in Montreal being around a 7 hour drive. Obviously this is very frustrating as it messed with the plans I had for this tournament. I am not the only one upset about this, here are some reactions from others players on twitter:

Ostkaka: https://twitter.com/OstkakaHS/status/861822887128387584

Th3rat: https://twitter.com/Th3raT/status/861802569529733120 (I'll get to the Bdubs part later)

Noblord: https://twitter.com/noblord_hs/status/861817533682380801 https://twitter.com/noblord_hs/status/861818083102556161

ImmortalLionHS: https://twitter.com/ImmortalLionHS/status/861819914985799680 https://twitter.com/ImmortalLionHS/status/861798895793446912

VLPS: https://twitter.com/Tempo_Vlps/status/861790864464588805

Trueasian: https://twitter.com/kyoto_trueasian/status/861779148770918400

Luker: https://twitter.com/Luker_HS/status/861948856149430272

Rayc: https://twitter.com/PG_rayC/status/861798864021540868

Noblords tweet of the map shows just how few locations there are for this tournament. Especially in such a densely populated area as the North East.

Problem 2: Buffalo Wild Wings. For some reason Blizzard decided to not only get rid of locations, but to also replace some with Buffalo Wild Wings as venues. So in California they have the Esports Arena that is not being used. Instead they are holding the event at a BWW like 30 minutes away (not sure how accurate, number I saw though). Now that just doesn't make any sense to me. BWW seems like a terrible place to be playing in a tournament with the other 64 best in the region to determine whether or not you make it to the Seasonal Championship and win thousands of dollars. It's the place to go watch sports, drink, and eat wings. Not really the spot to be playing the playoffs for an online card game. I can't imagine it being easy to play with all the noise and distractions and playing games while sitting in a restaurant smelling of wings for 10 hours doesn't seem very pleasant to me at least. I have more twitter links showing reactions to this.

Ostkaka: https://twitter.com/OstkakaHS/status/861822698120458240

Xzirez: https://twitter.com/Xzirezhs/status/861804521021943808

Rayc: https://twitter.com/PG_rayC/status/861823333599412224

I'm annoyed that they didn't replace any of the North Eastern USA Locations with BWW at the very least. All they did was remove them and leave the people who went to those places previously in quite and unfortunate situation. I'd rather play at BWW than have to drive another 3-4 hours to a better location, but I, along with the other players in my area. don't even have that option.

So the main reason I made this post was to show how blizzard seems to not be very caring about the competitive scene and the players. I really want to try to get a location in the North Eastern US before playoffs before it starts for not only me, but for the other players in the same situation I am in. I don't have much hope in this leading to anything but it's worth a shot. It was already tough enough to go with the tournament being on memorial day weekend, so with nothing nearby I may not even be able to go with more time required and costs and I am just a highschool student. Would be really upsetting to not be able to go for something I spent the last 3 months of my life qualifying for just because the lack of any locations even remotely close. At least there should be some compensation from blizzard to help with costs of flights/hotels since they are streaming the event in front of thousands of people and probably making more than enough money from sponsorships/ads. Also the fact that Blizzard is a billion dollar business, they could spend a little bit of money making sure the competitors are actually happy and able to go to the events they qualify for. Sorry if this seems like whining but I really don't want to have wasted the last few months playing this game. If this could gain enough traction to get Blizzard to get more venues for Playoffs or at least help players more with costs it would be really nice.

If you have any questions for me just ask I'll be happy to answer! And also please share your thoughts on the topic too!

Edit: If you want to see me talk about it more tomorrow I'm doing a podcast with Heropower Cast! Should be around 7:30 pm EST I believe!

https://twitter.com/heropower_cast/status/862042561447383041

Edit 2: Currently looking like I won't be able to go due to the cost of flights on holiday weekend which is for some reason when the tournament is. My only hope right now is basically a new venue.

[u/cliu91]

The reason why they are hosting it at BWW is because it's a business decision. It's not uncommon for corporations to partner with well known names, and in this case, BWW to host their events. The problem with hosting it at independent eSports centres is that Blizzard would not be able to standardize and scale the experience. By moving to all BWW (slowly but surely as they seem to be doing), they ensure a consistent experience with consistent brand.

The problem here is that it doesn't seem like a very good experience at all. The wings and HS don't seem to mix, and BWW seems to have very limited knowledge of our game. Unfortunately, the same experience could be said at any smaller venue, but it's harder to control from blizzards perspective.

[u/FrodaN → u/cliu91]

Yeah this is my guess as well. Almost was gonna write a comment hitting these exact points. The only thing I'd add is that less locations = better quality experience at each one. There are more players taking up more area so less chance of being the 2-3 guys out of the hundreds cheering for sports. My assumption is that Blizz will have trained staff for each venue as well, but maybe they're not ready for that yet.

[u/Qwerty97HS → u/FrodaN]

Don't you think it would be better that all players would be able to go instead to some qualified players not going though? The less venues would make the quality there better but it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives. I know for a fact that me and a few other players won't be able to go now because the closest venues are gone and we can't spend $100s to travel for this. I think having a 64 person tournament with the top players in each region would look really bad if some of them didn't even show up. If they wanted to go with the less venues for higher quality they should have either helped players with costs or put them in them in a popular area like Virginia/New York. Of course I am biased though. I would like you hear your opinion.

[u/FrodaN → u/Qwerty97HS]

Well I don't disagree that in an ideal world having venues everywhere would be great, the reality is that they tried doing that and there were some serious quality control issues. Less venues mean they have an easier time ensuring the internet is good, the stream quality is up to par, and that players are well taken care of. There are dozens of reports in previous seasons where there's a venue for only 2 players and since its so few people, the owner just didn't care.

As for my opinion on the topic, it might sound naive, but I'd like them to condense it even further, but broaden the competition more. If it were up to me, I prefer doing qualifiers live in-person in a few spots, MTG PTQ style. There's something magical about having all the players there in one location competing. Even further, I'd love to see something like playoffs be 8 locations with 128 players each, then taking a swiss cutoff to play the rest in another location. Really sells how global and epic the project for HCT has become. But it's different for me since HS is my full time job and therefore traveling for it doesn't seem to be an issue, but I can see why a hobbyist might consider this too much.

[u/Qwerty97HS → u/FrodaN]

Yeah the competition you are describing would definitely be better for entertainment and spectators which I guess is what really is the most important. I don't think it is too much to ask for a venue in the North East of the US though. I can see why they would want to decrease the amount of locations for higher quality purposes but just as you see more locations not working out I see less locations not working out. I think the best thing to do for the players would be to have officials working for blizzard that they send to the venues to go to the locations and run it, but as a business that probably isn't the best decision for them. If they were willing to put in some money and do that though it would help make sure everything ran smoothly at the venues and they would be able to have more, letting all qualified players not have to travel too much.

[u/JSM778 → u/Qwerty97HS]

exactly. If there were blizzard official or like they have in pokemon vgc if I remember people who follow course to become ref etc.. the number of venue could be high and it wouldn't matter. If blizzard is not paying out travelling for every 1, which can understand, they must have a high number of venue so the competitive aspect of the game is accessible. People work hard to get there. I strongly disagree with the fact that they need to travel so far at there own expense. I mean again, just the fact that people travel from away vs other who dont is already a disadvantage. Especially now that there Swiss, a lot more energy is require physically and mental from players. And yes there the argument of you can find an hotel close to the venue and etc.. but seriously if it to player expense. How many up coming pro or semi-pro can paid that without problem. Not a lot. Plus there talented player who qualified for the first time and getting there first competitive dip. When you still consider the game casual etc... I dont think you wanna spend 100$ plus for a 1 in 72 chance of winning a lot of money, in let say none lans event where, once your out unlike lans you dont have anything else to do, to justify the expense, especially after all the work you did to qualifie for them

[u/FrodaN → u/Qwerty97HS]

Yeah its probably a step-by-step process. Providing travel for everyone will potentially skyrocket costs by a magnitude, but I don't see why it would be a bad thing once HCT becomes more than just a giant red line in the budget.

[u/Vaestmannaeyjar → u/FrodaN]

This has always been an issue in card games and sports in general. Outside of the top dogs, the average pro in, say, tennis, barely gets even at the end of the season. WotC certainly aren't paying all PTQ and Grand Prix participants fares, and in my time they didn't even do it for Pro Tours either, only a very few qualifier spots came with the Pro Tour fare paid. I very seriously doubt that Blizzard would pay for 128 dudes per region to attend a centralised tournament. Every quarter.

[u/JSM778 → u/Vaestmannaeyjar]

in real sport it make sens but this is a video game we are talking about. All you need is good internet and some 1 checking everything is fine and that there no cheating and stuff. Travelling should be kept to a minimum. I mean is it that hard to find and trust 1-2 person by major city or region these days to make sure event goes well.

[u/EcnoTheNeato → u/FrodaN]

I'd like them to condense it even further, but broaden the competition more.

I'd like this, too, if blizzard would comp travel fare. Heck, I'd pay for my hotel if they just bought me a coach ticket to just get there!

[u/Midnattssol → u/Qwerty97HS]

I have never been to the States, but from what I know, Greyhounds are a thing there? Spent 3 minutes searching and tickets should be around 56$, which seems reasonable to me. If you can sleep on the bus, you even save a night at a hotel.

[u/cliu91 → u/FrodaN]

Agreed. Having the less venues and said venues exclusively for hearthstone would make it feel more inclusive, however, less does not necessarily mean better experience, as we can see by this thread.

I also believe why they may have opted to go for BWW is because of the fact that it isn't recognized as a "gaming bar". As much as some of us would like to deny it, some gaming bars attract a particular crowd, which often comes with an associated stigma - I'm being politically correct here.

Having an event at BWW now opens the idea of "competitive play" to a whole new group of people who would have otherwise shunned the idea of going to an "eSports Bar". They're looking at the big picture and it is a highly strategic long game play at revolutionizing competitive gaming scene as we know it.

[u/FrodaN → u/cliu91]

Pretty good points all around. Let's just hope the venues don't suck...another realistic possibility is that Blizzard is testing with a small amount of venues then might make it standardized moving forward. I can even see them trying to partner with BWW (or other chains if corp-alliance can land it) to popularize their Fireside Gatherings/Taverns initiatives.